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Congenital heart disease deeply concerned in China

By Shan Juan (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-11-25 16:25

More than 300,000 children are born each year with the congenital heart disease on the Chinese mainland, however, only 70,000 of them have access into medical treatment, said experts.

"Low awareness, limited medical resources, and economic reasons are mainly to be blamed for that," said professor Li Shoujun, who heads the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Center of the Fu Wai Hospital at an awareness raising event held jointly by the Beijing-based hospital, Sohu.com, and Novartis.

Currently, China has more than 650 medical institutions which are qualified to perform surgery treating the congenital heart disease, official statistics showed. However, most of them are located in large cities in the country.

Those born to unprivileged rural families would miss best time for treatment, Li concerned.

The congenital heart disease is a defect in the structure of the heart and great vessels which is present at birth. Many types of heart defects exist, most of which either obstruct blood flow in the heart or vessels near it, or cause blood to flow through the heart in an abnormal pattern.

Heart defects are among the most common birth defects and are the leading cause of birth defect-related deaths. Approximately 9 people in 1,000 are born with a congenital heart defect of different kinds, according to the World Health Organization.

China, particularly the rural areas, has always been hit hard by varied birth deformities, which afflict about 1.2 million newborns in the country each year, said Zhu Jun, deputy director of the National Maternal and Child Health Surveillance Office.

The congenital heart disease, neural tube defects, and cleft lip are birth defects commonly seen in the country, he said.

Of the babies born with defects, only 30 percent can be cured or treated. Another 40 percent suffer lifelong deformities, while the remaining die shortly after birth, health experts have said.