A facility to treat cardiac conditions in children was inaugurated at SSKM Hospital on Tuesday.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who inaugurated the paediatric cath lab, said it was the second such facility in the country after AIIMS.

"Inaugurated the first Paediatric Cath (Heart) Lab at SSKM Hospital, Kolkata. The other Paediatric Cath (Heart) Lab is only at AIIMS, New Delhi. A Sleep Lab has also been opened. Healthcare is first of our key focus areas," the chief minister said on Trinamul's website.

Doctors said that though procedures to treat cardiac disorders in children are done in government hospitals in other states, the facility unveiled at SSKM on Tuesday was the second dedicated paediatric cath lab after AIIMS.

The Rs 9-crore cath lab will mostly treat congenital cardiac disorders, such a block in the main artery supplying blood to the lungs and perforations in valves.

The cath lab will have specialised stents, catheters and other devices needed for newborn babies and children.

To remove a block in the coronary artery of an adult, the average diameter of the balloon used for angioplasty is 18-24 mm, cardiologists said.

"But to clear a congenital block in the artery of a newborn baby or a child, the balloon's diameter has to be 4-10 mm, depending on the age of the child," explained a cardiologist. Similarly, the size of stents meant for children must be one-third the size of the ones implanted in adults.

The cath lab will also have specialised devices like coils used to repair perforations in the valves of a paediatric heart and special X-ray machines that emit less radiation than the ones used for adults.

Nurses trained in performing paediatric procedures will be shifted to the new facility, which is likely to start operations by the end of this week, an official said.

SSKM officials said procedures on children are now done at the two cath labs meant for adults, resulting in a long queue. On average around 1,000 procedures are performed at the SSKM cath labs every month, of which only 50 are for children.

"Such dedicated facilities for paediatric patients is a must at state-run hospitals so that a large number of children can be treated without much delay," said cardiologist Rabin Chakraborty.

Treatment at the new cath lab at SSKM would come under the Sishu Sathi scheme, under which cardiac surgery and other interventions are provided free to children up to the age of 18.

In the two years the project has been running at SSKM and four private hospitals, more than 3,000 children have undergone cardiac surgeries or intervention, health secretary Malay De said.