Late treatment and improper diagnosis are among reasons Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) patients lose their lives amid their increasing number, the Afghanistan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) said on Monday.

AVA- Nelab Mubarez, ARCS secretary general, shared the organization’s annual report, saying 1,742 children with CHD were treated in hospitals inside and outside the country during the past one year.
She said the ARCS registered 2,249 children after being diagnosed with CHD. Since 2008, 15,000 children had been registered and out of them 8,674 had been successfully treated while 6,646 have been awaiting their turn.
She said: “With financial support of pilgrims, donations from the governments of Afghanistan, India, the Qatar RCS, ICRC-China, the percentage of treatment increased by 60 percent.”
Ghulam Jilani, the father of a four-year-old Kulsum, said his daughter was rehabilitated after treatment outside the country with ARCS support. “If my daughter was not treated, I would have been feeling guilty,” he said.