The Sai Prema Foundation is this week marking Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week.

Forty cases of congenital heart defects were diagnosed last year through the screening of 460 children.

The Sai Prema Foundation says the detection rates in the screened children was higher than the known local statistics.

Foundation General Practitioner, Dr Krupali Tappoo says there are many more children with congenital heart defects who go undetected.

” What happens when there is no team and babies born with congenital heart defects, parents have no choice but to take the baby overseas if they can afford it. It costs over $100, 000 to do that and most parents can’t afford it and so many children will lose the battle really earlier on in life.”

The Foundation is this week marking Congenital Heart Defect Awareness Week.