By

• R Krishna Kumar  MD DM FACC FAHA, Clinical Professor and Head, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Cochin, Kerala, India
• Shakuntala S Prabhu   MD DCH, Professor of Pediatrics and In-charge Div. of Pediatric Cardiology, BJ Wadia Children’s Hospital, Acharaya Donde Marg, Parel, Mumbai, India
• M Zulfikar Ahamed   MD(Ped) DM (Cardiology), Professor and Head of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India,

Impressive advances have occurred in Pediatric Cardiac Care in India over the last decade.  Several new programs have been established and the quality of care has progressively improved.  Infant heart surgery is now becoming increasingly available in many Indian centers. Pediatric cardiology is now recognized as a distinct subspecialty and dedicated fellowship training programs have been initiated in selected centers in India.   However, several challenges continue to exist.  The number of centers is not enough to take care of the number of affected children and cost of care continues to be prohibitive for the average Indian family. Large parts of India still do not have access to pediatric heart care because there are no centers even in many larger states.  Most postgraduate training programs in India are in centers which do not offer specialized pediatric cardiac services. As a result the average Indian pediatric postgraduate trainee receives very little systematic exposure in pediatric cardiology.