Rajeev, the one-year-old son of a migrant couple from Maanvi Taluka in Raichur district was diagnosed with variations in heartbeat at birth. The doctor had asked them to comeback after a year for a detailed check-up. As the couple had migrated to HSR in Bengaluru a few months ago, they had not gone back to the hospital for the follow-up. During our regular heath-check visit to the community, the family disclosed the issue and also mentioned that the child has started having regular bouts of vomiting and feels very tired. We immediately took the child to Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital. But there were a few documentation issues - mismatch of the father’s name in the birth certificate and ration card and requirement of referral letter from taluk hospital for availing Arogya Scheme benefits. We contacted the authorities in Raichur district to correct the details. The authorities informed us that the whole process will take a couple of weeks and the father of the child has to be present for the necessary corrections. But, upon our request to fast track the process due to medical emergency health, they handed over the corrected documents to the father within two days. We also went to Taluka Hospital in Anekal and got the referral letter.

Soon, we submitted all the required documents at Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital and they began their medical investigation. They found that the child had a small opening in the heart (very tiny hole) which needs to be operated on and will incur a certain amount of cost despite being eligible under Arogya Scheme.

As the family was not in a position to bear the cost, we thought of taking a second opinion which led us to Jayadeva Hospital. Here they seconded the findings of Narayana Hrudayalaya, but advised against operation at this stage. They have prescribed medicine for six months, following which a check-up will be done to assess the condition of the child.