Nurse training at Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Howrah, India
In India, only one in ten children with congenital heart disease receives optimal care. The limited number of pediatric heart care programs and unequal geographic access to these services are among the reasons. To change that, we continue to train more medical professionals through new hospital partnerships. Our sixth partner hospital in India is Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in the city of Howrah.
This hospital is located in West Bengal, one of the most heavily populated states in India. This is our second partner in West Bengal, where we also work with Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata.
Our new partner is also part of Narayana Health, a 31-hospital network devoted to delivering high-quality and affordable care to the broad population, including India’s poorest communities.
“Children’s HeartLink will explore the potential to expand partnerships with the Narayana system and explore strategies for achieving efficiencies when working with hospitals in close geographic proximity,” says Children’s HeartLink Vice President of Programs and Evaluation Anne Betzner.
Children’s Minnesota is paired with and mentoring both hospitals in West Bengal.
Medical volunteers from Children’s Minnesota visiting Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Howrah
Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Howrah serves over 500 children annually in its cardiac unit. Our partnership focuses on increasing the number of children treated, the complexity of surgeries and the quality of care.
“There is much unmet need in pediatric heart care in the state of West Bengal. The Howrah pediatric cardiac program has been in existence for only 3 years, but it has a lot of potential. The Howrah team is vibrant, engaged and highly collaborative. All members of the team contribute ideas and coordinate efforts to provide the best possible care for the children treated there,” says Children’s HeartLink Country Director Adriana Dobrzycka. “Children’s HeartLink and our medical volunteers are eager to work with this team, to support their growth and development in order to expand better care to the children in this region.”
Read more about our work in India here.