Public healthcare sector in the state has added another feather to its cap with the functioning of a Catheterisation Laboratory (Cathlab) for children at SAT Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram Medical College campus.

About 16 children, ranging in age from 10 months to 16 years, having genetic heart diseases were treated within two days after the Cathlab started functioning and they would be discharged within two days, a health department statement said here.

Describing the functioning of Cathlab for children at SAT Hospital as "a dream come true" achievement, Minister for Health K K Shailaja said several genetic heart diseases found in newborn babies and children can be treated at Cathlab without performing open-heart surgeries.

The government will bear the heart treatment expenses for children at Cahtlab which otherwise costs about Rs 1.5 lakh at private sector hospitals, the Minister said. Studies found that in Kerala one among hundred children are affected with heart diseases by birth and the state government has introduced 'Hridyam' programme, a cost-free treatment, for such children. The Cathlab for children which started functioning at SAT Hospital is the first-of-its-kind in the public healthcare sector, the statement added.