New Delhi, Mar 5 (IANS): The Indian Army, under Operation Sadbhavna, brought a boy, suffering from a heart ailment and whose family was incapable of affording treatment, from Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla to Delhi, where army doctors gave him a new lease of life, an official statement said.

The boy had a critical narrowing of the aorta (blood vessel supplying pure blood to all the parts of the body), resulting in compromised blood supply to a few vital organs of the body as well as reduced function of the heart, as per Defence Ministry statement.

The paediatric cardiology team of the Armed Forces Medical Services successfully performed a high-risk transcatheter (non-surgical) life-saving cardiac procedure on the boy at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) here.

This challenging complex procedure was done through a small nick in the groin and involved the implantation of a large stent. It was an extremely life-threatening complicated procedure. However, it went off uneventfully and the child was discharged in just three days post-procedure without even a scar on the body.

With the collaborative efforts of the Army Hospital (R and R), the Chinar Corps and Dagger Division in J&K, and the Indrani Balan Foundation, Pune, the boy will now lead a fully normal life in the future.

Expertise in performing such a complex procedure is available only at a few centres in the country, including the Army Hospital (R and R) here, as per the statement.