PATNA, July 23 -- Five children with congenital heart disorders got a new lease of life, as they were successfully operated upon free of cost under the government's flagship programme for children, the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) and the Bal Hriday Yojana (BHY), and discharged at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS), said officials on Tuesday. The heart surgeries were unique to the state, as hitherto most young children, generally up to 5 years of age and around 5kg weight, used to be sent to Ahmedabad for complex corrective cardiac surgeries. The IGIMS on Tuesday, discharged five children, the youngest being two-year old Shivam Kumar of Darbhanga who underwent corrective surgery on July 14 to plug a 16mm diameter hole in the heart, referred to as atrial septal defect (ASD). Madhubani's Sarvesh, 8, and Darbhanga's Shivani Kumari, 11, were also among those to be discharged on Tuesday after the hole in their hearts were plugged last week by a team of cardio-thoracic vascular surgeons (CTVS) led by professor and head Dr Sheil Avneesh. "While all the cardiac surgeries on children were challenging, lasting an average 4-6 hours, the procedure on West Champaran's Aryan Kumar, 6, who had tetralogy of fallot, also referred to as blue baby, was more challenging. It involved closing the hole in his heart, removing obstruction in his pulmonary artery (carrying impure blood from the heart to the lungs for purification), increasing the size of the pulmonary artery and also correcting the malignment of the heart," said Dr Avneesh. Operated on July 17, Kumar was discharged on Tuesday. The procedure on Vaishali's Rupanshi Kumari, 12, suffering from complete atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD), characterised by abnormal connections between all four heart chambers, involving a mix of problems, including holes in the walls separating the heart's chambers and malformations of the atrioventricular valves, which control blood flow, was also challenging, said Dr Avneesh. These children were among the 150 screened during the free mega health camp held on May 14, of which 70 children were shortlisted for critical heart surgeries. Among them, 30 children have already undergone successful operations at IGIMS, while the remaining 40 are scheduled for surgery soon, said Dr Priyankar Singh, nodal officer of RBSK and BHY at IGIMS. As many as 68 cardiac surgeries have been performed under the RBSK and BHY programme at the IGIMS over the last one year. The IGIMS is a pioneer in the state in doing cardiac surgeries under the government's programme. Bihar's health minister Mangal Pandey, who was present during the discharge of the children on Tuesday, praised the commendable work being done at IGIMS. "Bal Hriday Yojna is extremely close to my heart. This programme is a ray of hope for children battling complex heart diseases," he said....