Dr. Bharat Dalvi's clinic

After the heartwrenching situation that we faced at Dr. Ratnaparkhi's clinic, I must say I was much more calm and pulled together when the day dawned of our appointment at Dr. Bharat Dalvi's clinic located at Matunga.

The clinic is part of the Glenmark Cardiac Centre. The place is divided into a children's section located at the back of the building and the senior section is in the front. I have visited only the children's section where Dr. Dalvi sits. The place is well divided into a reception area, the 2-d Echo room, Dr. Dalvi's cabin, the ECG room also used for taking the weight and height. There are 2-3 more rooms inside.

Once we were there, we notified the reception staff that we had arrived and we were asked to seat ourselves. There were lots of other people with tiny tots, some mere babies in their mother's arms.

The staff was taking each child in for the height-weight, some were given the pacifying medication so as to not cause any disturbance during the scan. I was asked if my son needed the medication and I declined.

Once our turn came, I took Aadi to the ECG room, they noted his height, weight and then took the ECG. Aadi was very curious as the ECG probes had little balloons on them..thankfully he let it get done easily, and I must say the toys at the clinic and the super sweet staff make it all the more easier.

We waited for some time before we were called in for the 2-D Echo; there were toys in this room too. The staff put a probe to Aadi's toe and measured the Oxygen saturation level in his body.

Dr. Dalvi walked in and I saw a calm looking person, with a easy attitude who put me and Aadi at ease and got about his job. He did his job and asked me to see him in his cabin.

In the scan room, only me and Aadi were allowed. When we were told to see the doctor in his room, we all went to talk to him. We knew the result of the 2-D Echo, and we had our questions ready for him. Dr. Dalvi told us that there is a Septal Defect and that it was a large one; he also stressed that we should get the operation done within 6 months. Dr. Dalvi also operates on children with heart ailments; so were surprised when he recommended hospitals in Bangalore, Delhi and Cochin without saying a word about he himself doing it. So I asked him and he said that due to 3 main reasons

1. The septal defect was a large one 14-16 mm,

2. the distance from the supporting wall was only 0.7 mm,

3. Dr. Dalvi only does the operation using the 'Umbrella Technique'; he does not do open heart surgeries; and Aaditya needed to have an Open heart surgery due to reasons 1 & 2.

Dr. Dalvi also said that if the required surgery was something he could do, he would have said so in the first instance.

Dr. Dalvi is a to-the-point person and means each word he says. I trusted him instantly and in my mind thanked Dr. Daftary who had sent me to him.

His staff gave us a print out of the hospital addresses in the above mentioned cities and also mentioned phone numbers, email ids, doctors' names etc.

He said we were free to choose either of the 3 options as per our convenience. He said that when one is looking at an Open Heart surgery for a child, one needs to look at the entire setup and also most importantly the Pediatric Heart Surgeons and their entire teams so that the actual surgery is done by the best hands and also that the post-operative care is flawless which is crucial in the case of a child undergoing a major surgery.

We were given a detailed report and CD of the 2-D Echo, the ECG. The staff reminded us that we must get a photocopy of the ECG as it tends to fade in a couple of weeks.

We left Dr. Dalvi's clinic feeling more confident and with a clear picture ahead of us.

Now we have to only find out more about each of the hospitals and zero-in on the best one according to us.