About CHIME
Every year, over 200,000 children born in India are diagnosed with congenital heart disease. This condition encompasses over 150 types and manifestations, with a hole in the heart being just one among them. An estimated 9 out of every 1,000 children born in India are affected by this disease, with the majority facing critical conditions necessitating surgery within their first year of life. Regrettably, only a few children receive this life-saving treatment every year.
CHIME steps in to assist the parents of these children, shouldering their financial burdens, alleviating them from debts, and raising funds to ensure a smooth recovery for their little ones, enabling them to regain a normal life like other children.
Over the past 16 years, CHIME has extended assistance to over 1000 children who would have otherwise been unable to afford these surgeries. Our success primarily stems from the goodwill and generosity of patrons and well-wishers, who have supported this program.
WHY CHIME
Many of us might not be aware of the necessity for a Pediatric Cardiology speciality, which arises from the fact that nearly 2 lakh children are born with congenital heart disease every year. Among them, over 90% come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, where lack of awareness, information, and adequate facilities often leads to the loss of many lives.
This scenario prompted MIOT Hospitals to establish MIOT Centre for Children’s Cardiac Care in 2007, headed by a group of specialists in neonatal surgery and invasive procedures. Within a month of its inception, we realized the need to reach out to children in need and to provide them care as and when necessary.
Dr. Robert Coelho, Director & Chief Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon, MIOT International and his team started off with camps in and around Chennai, and identified children who needed immediate, urgent, emergency care. After having performed the first 10 surgeries free of cost, MIOT Hospitals realized the need to ensure that more children should receive such care at all times, and we should be able to carry forward our mission to provide free heart surgeries for children for years to come.
CHIME – CHILDREN’S HEART INTERNATIONALE MIOT
In September 2007, MIOT International established a Charitable Trust to provide funds for free / subsidized heart surgeries for underprivileged children suffering from congenital and rheumatic heart diseases. While MIOT Hospital performs several surgeries, we do feel the need for financial assistance to sustain the effort. Thus CHIME works with the community to raise funds from well-wishers and philanthropists to support our mission to provide heart surgeries and treatment for children in need.
