Sunil Gavaskar's birthday wish: "Save" children suffering from congenital heart disease
Happy 72nd Birthday Sunil Gavaskar! Cricketers, fans wish legend on Sunny day
Gavaskar’s ‘Heart to Heart’ foundation has been working with Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospitals for the past few years, and almost 16,000 surgeries have been performed “free of cost”, with a “success rate of 99 percent”.
“The Heart to Heart foundation was set up a few years back to create awareness about the issue of children born with congenital heart defects and to raise funds which help in the children getting treated without having to pay anything,” Gavaskar told PTI on his birthday.
Asked what led him to form a foundation to help children with CHD, the ‘Little Master’ said: “There are more than 300000 children born in India with CHD and almost a third of them don’t live to see their next birthday.
“The foundation is collaborating with the three Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospitals, one in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh, another in Palwal, Haryana and the third in Kharghar, New Mumbai where the children are treated. These hospitals perform surgeries and cath interventions totally free of cost to the child and the parents,” Gavaskar said.
The batting great informed that nearly 400 surgeries are performed every month.
