CHENNAI: Kauvery Hospital on Friday launched an initiative to facilitate 100 heart surgeries every year for children below the poverty line who are suffering from heart ailments for free.The hospital has partnered with Madras Anchorage Round Table 100 which will be funding this initiative for the next ten years and actor Vishal inaugurated the event.As many as 32 children have already availed this service including babies who are just two months old.Their families are primarily daily wage earners including farms hands from across Tamil Nadu . The hospital identifies deserving families for this initiative through medical camps which they conduct across districts and public too can approach the hospital located in Mylaore directly for diagnosis and free surgeries.Children with congenital heart problems and other heart ailments can live a good quality of life in the society after treatments, said senior paediatric interventional cardiologist, Prem Sekar.“Every year, 2500-3000 open heart surgeries are performed in India which is not adequate compared to the number of children with ailments who are waiting,” said Sekar.“This is because most parents are unaware of the health issues, they are not diagnosed and many believe surgeries are risky and that myth needs to be broken.”The doctor added that among the 2.8 crore deliveries per year in the country, 1,80,000 are born with heart problems of which 60,000-90,000 newborns will need immediate attention within the first year or month of their birth.