The key is early detection – Dr. Tappoo

The key is early detection, if you pick up a lesion early and do something about it, it is much better for the children with much better outcomes.

Director of Sai Sanjeevani Children's Heart Hospital, Doctor Krupali Tappoo highlighted this when questioned about the advantages of early screening in children.

Dr. Tappoo says we have some children in Fiji and even the region who are inoperable because they have had these lesions so long that their blood vessels have formed between the heart and the lungs.

She further says they currently have the National University Hospital in Singapore team who so far have done 12 surgeries and they are also currently operating on another child.

The Director says they are beginning to see more complex heart issues like tetralogy of fallot which is 4 abnormalities in the heart and that takes time as it is an open heart surgery as well.

She is pleading with parents if they think their child has a heart defect to get it checked out as it is non invasive, just a little bit of gel, a probe and a scan of the heart.