What is the purpose of this blog spot?

     Having trained and worked in the UK in a system where communication with patients and their families along with their active participation in care and decision making is the norm I am keen to develop this practice back in India. 

     I believe that patients and parents deserve and need to know and understand their/their child's health and illnesses. It is the responsibility of their doctor and other health care providers to help them in this process. 

     In my line of work I deal with complex birth defects of the heart and perform difficult keyhole procedures. Although at times it is tempting to simplify the situation and presume that the patient or parent will not understand I always remind myself to explain the problem using simple language and drawings so that the patient or parent has an opportunity to understand the important issues and can then become an active participant in their or their child's care. 

     In this blog spot I aim to post information related to congenital heart disease (birth defects of the heart) including available procedures and treatments. This information can be accessed by general public and I will then try to answer any questions or queries that arise from these posts. Of course you will have the opportunity to discuss any other issue related to your or your child's heart defect on this forum. Remember that I am a specialist in congenital heart defects (birth defects of the heart for example holes in the heart, valve problems etc) and not in heart attacks that happen in later life. 

     I eventually want parent groups to take shape through this forum where patients and their parents can form their own self help groups to assist each other through their difficult times of illness. 

     Birth defects of the heart can be picked up in all age groups ranging from the unborn fetus (during pregnancy) through childhood and adolescence to the full grown adult. As the name suggests these defects are present from birth but may be detected at various stages in life. Sometimes in a high risk mother (I will explain what a high risk mother is in a separate post) a scan during pregnancy can pick up a defect in the heart. At other times the defect may be detected soon after birth due to blueness of the baby. Sometimes a routine visit to the child specialist can help pick up the problem. Rarely the problem gets noticed only during adult life. 

Anyway, time to sign off now. Will see you again :)