Thiruyannthapuram(PTI): The Sree Chitra tirunal institute for medical sciences and technology, One of the foremost R and D centers in’ the country has gained prominence after it developed the Chitra heart value, that consider ably brought down the cost of cardiac surgeries in India.
The heart valve has been the most difficult project for the institute as the Criteria prescribed by international agencies were Quite stringent, says institute director, Dr.M,S, Valiathan, who has spent more than a decade abroad doing research work in the cardiology. “We actually took a long time to go through a series of processes towards making the valve as the likelihood of it being criticized in the spent of any slight complication are quite high,” he says.
About 130 Chitra valves has already been implanted in patients, 45 such patients have completed a year or more after their heart surgery.
The medical center of the institute, which conducts more than 1,200 cardiac operations annually, now faces a new problem it’s 200bed hospital has an 3,000 long Waiting list of patients, who find good health well within their reach at an affordable cost of a little Iess than Rs 7000 for the Chitra valve 4S compared to the cheapest imported one which costs nearly Rs 20,000.
Asked about the product’s demand in the market, Dr. Valiathan Says the requirement is quite large but the country lacks the elaborate Setup to conduct adequate number of heart surgeries, according thorough estimates, India has about 20,000 rheumatic heart disease patients.
Article extracted from this publication >> June 11, 1993
