Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar (Image Credit: Twitter)

Legendary opening batsman Sunil Gavaskar is celebrating his 72nd birthday today and for him, there can be a no bigger gift than giving children suffering from congenital heart disease a new lease of life.

The legendary cricketer’s pledge on his 72nd birthday is to bring a smile to those cute faces.

Gavaskar’s ‘Heart to Heart’ foundation has been working relentlessly with Sri Sathya Sanjeevani Hospitals for a number of years now, and almost 16000 ‘free of cost’ surgeries have been performed with a success rate of 99 percent.

“The Heart to Heart foundation was set up a few years back to create awareness about the issue of children born with congenital heart defects and to raise funds which help in the children getting treated without having to pay anything,” Sunil Gavaskar told PTI on his birthday.

Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar (Image Credit: Twitter)

Asked what motivated him to help children suffering from CHD, Sunil Gavaskar said that there are more than 3 lakh children suffering from the deadly disease who don’t get to live to see their next birthday.

“There are more than 300000 children born in India with CHD and almost a third of them don’t live to see their next birthday,” said Gavaskar.

“The foundation is collaborating with the three Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Hospitals, one in New Raipur, Chhattisgarh, another in Palwal, Haryana and the third in Kharghar, New Mumbai where the children are treated. These hospitals perform surgeries and cath interventions totally free of cost to the child and the parents,” Gavaskar said.

Gavaskar signed off by revealing that almost 400 surgeries are performed every month.

Read More  Shaheen Afridi's stint over, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan recommended for Pakistan captaincy by new selection committee

”The hospitals currently do around 400 surgeries a month. Under the mother and child health care programme, we have covered around 95000 mothers and their babies so far,” said Sunil Gavaskar.

Also Read-Twitter Reactions: Wishes Pour In For ‘Little Master’ Sunil Gavaskar On His 72nd Birthday