For the parents of four-month-old Tanisha, a team of Chennai doctors are no less than God. Chief cardiac surgeon Dr K R Balakrishnan and his team of doctors at Chennai’s Malar Hospital made all efforts, medically and financially, to help the child live.

Dr Balakrishnan and his team donated Rs 1.5 lakh for the child’s operation.

Born with Cyanotic Congenital heart defect — a condition where the heart is on the right side of chest — Tanisha’s right lung was under-developed. “This was a rare case. It is a very uncommon condition named Scimitar Syndrome. Congenital heart disease is responsible for more deaths in the first year of life. Many of these defects need to be followed carefully else they lead to a loss of life,” said Dr Balakrishnan who and his team successfully operated upon Tanisha on April 7.

With the blood pressure in Tanisha’s lung touching 120 MG — in normal child it is 20 MG — the doctors had to take the help of Viagra/ Sildenfril to reduce the blood pressure. Apart from the operation, Dr Balakrishnan says, the role of nurses was more important than the doctors because the child was in a ventilator for 40 days.

Tanisha’s problem started when she was barely two months old. She was first taken to NRS hospital in Kolkata and then to Apollo hospital where doctor found that her heart was on the right side of her chest. Dr Joyati Sengupta recommended Tanisha’s parents — Subrata Saha and Deepa Saha — to consult Dr Balakrishnan, who has handled 20,000 surgeries and seven to eight cases similar to Tanisha’s.

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