The Amrita Institute for Medical Sciences (AIMS) has received the first BMJ (British Medical Journal) India Award for its paediatric heart programme.
BMJ India awards are given in ten categories and selected from almost 500 entries by a panel of eminent medical professionals.
It was presented to AIMS for continuously striving for excellence in the complex area of delivering high quality, affordable cardiac care to children with heart defects.
On an average, 700 paediatric cardiac surgeries are performed by the Amrita hospital annually, while another 600 children are treated in the catheterization laboratory.
AIMS has pioneered the low cost treatment for children with congenital heart disease and developed a unique treatment protocol for closure of a certain type of heart defect known as Patent ductus arteriosus or PDA. The hospital has also pioneered in closing holes in the heart such as atrial septal defect (ASD) and ventricular septal defect (VSD).
Since its inception in 1998, AIMS has performed 12,000 heart operations and 10,000 catheter procedures.