Families with kids with CHD say Mehtas shouldn't abort

HEART ACHE: Around 2 lakh children are born in India every year with CHD.

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New Delhi: Three-year-old Jiah loves dancing to Bollywood tunes. Looking at her now, you can't tell her heart is ticking with the help of a pacemaker. Jiah was born with congenital heart defect (CHD), a problem her parents found out in the seventh month of the pregnancy. For the Sharmas, that was a extremely difficult phase.

Her mother Sonu Sharma says, "The last two months of my pregnancy were very difficult. We cried and we did think about abortion."

But they eventually decided to keep her. Jiah celebrated her first birthday covered with tubes, but today she leading a normal life. She does well at the playschool she attends and a recent social maturaity test at AIIMS actually says she has above average intelligence.

But there are difficult moments.

"People see the mark on her chest and ask us about it. It is annoying to repeat the full story every time, but I am glad we did not abort this beautiful child," says her mother.

Jiah's initial operation to fit the pacemaker in her abdomen cost around Rs 3 lakh. It will be recharged when she turns five years old and then recharged at regular intervals.

Later a surgery will be performed to shift the pacemaker to her heart permanently. Unfortunately no insurance company in India today provides cover for CHD. But despite these hardships here is what one mother has to say to another.

"I think the Mehtas should rethink the abortion bit and go in for more counselling and tests. If it is only about a pacemaker, they should not abort," says Sonu.

When Jiah grows up, the Sharmas want her to become a cardiologist and mend more hearts.

Around 2 lakh children are born in India every year with CHD. Not all of them are lucky like Jiah, but should that be reason enough to turn your womb into your baby's grave?