Children get meal at an anganwadi centre in Nagpur
A cardiac procedure that would have normally cost them anywhere upwards of Rs 2 lakh was performed absolutely free of charge under the initiative. Under the RBSK initiative, 94.9 lakh children were screened between April and Sept 20, 2026. This extensive drive helped medical teams identify conditions early and facilitate immediate treatment, including over 8,000 completed surgeries. Between April and August 2026, the RBSK facilitated 810 completed heart surgeries out of 820 children flagged for critical cardiac procedures. Barring a few pending cases in Parbhani, Ratnagiri, and Nagpur, all other districts achieved a 100% completion rate for identified heart surgeries. Additionally, 7,252 non-cardiac surgeries were successfully executed out of 7,259 cases identified during the same timeline.
The devastating reality of these financial strains was felt deeply by a farming family from Hingoli. When their five-year-old firstborn son, Kunal, was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect, his parents were left shattered. They consulted several private doctors, but the cost of treatment was quoted way beyond their modest budget. Hit hard by a poor farming season, the family faced a double whammy of agricultural loss and a medical crisis. However, their despair turned to hope when they visited a govt doctor at their nearest sub-district hospital and learnt about the RBSK scheme. The state’s aggressive screening approach successfully translated into actual treatment delivery. These medical interventions included corrective procedures for cleft lips, palates, cochlear-implant requirements, and other physiological impairments. Districts like Pune, Kolhapur, Solapur, and Amravati recorded the highest volumes of completed non-cardiac surgeries.