Sunil Gavaskar To Support 600 Heart Surgeries Of Poor Children After His Successful Fundraising Trip To The US

Former Indian men’s cricket captain Sunil Gavaskar, after his charity fundraising trip to the United States, is going to support over 600 crucial heart surgeries for underprivileged children suffering from Congenital Heart Defects (CHD), reports The Indian Express.

Gavaskar, who is a part of the Heart to Heart (H2H) Foundation, was recently on a multi-city tour called ‘Bat-for-Life’. The tour was a part of the ‘Freedom from CHD’ initiative launched by the foundation to spread awareness and get participation for free heart surgeries.

“It has been a great opening innings to the multi-city USA tour to support free heart surgeries for children in India and I am very thankful for the overwhelming participation by many across several cities,” said Gavaskar. He also signed a cricket bat each for the people willing to bat for the cause.

The surgeries will be performed by Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospitals in India, which have done at least 10,000 free of cost surgeries since 2012.

Chairman of the hospital chain C Sreenivas said, “...Sadly, over 36,000 children are registered and still waiting for treatment. Many will not live long if left untreated.”

Over 250 children suffering from CHD die everyday in India mainly due to lack of skilled paediatric care around them, and inability of families to take their kids to big cities because of financial barriers.