Little Heart Care Center
Established in 2013 and led by Dr. Pankaj Sugaonkar. Diagnosis, intervention and follow-up under one roof in Shivajinagar, Pune.
Explore the centre
Save Little Heart Foundation
A New Beginning for Little Hearts
We were created for children who fall through the gap between a treatable condition and treatment that never arrives — because a defect that is treatable should never be the reason a child doesn't get to grow up.
Our Story
Fifteen Years of Watching the Same Thing Happen
Congenital heart disease is one of the most common serious conditions a child can be born with. Most of it is treatable. Much of it, in India, is not treated in time — rarely for medical reasons.
2009
One doctor, one camp
Dr. Pankaj Sugaonkar begins running free paediatric cardiac screening camps in and around Pune alongside his hospital practice — because the children who needed screening were not the ones who could reach a specialist.
2009
2013
2013
Little Heart Care Center opens
A dedicated centre in Shivajinagar, Pune brings screening, diagnosis, intervention and follow-up together under one roof for the first time.
2016–2022
The camps go further
Outreach expands into rural Maharashtra — more than 50 camps across 14 districts, screening thousands of children who would otherwise never see a paediatric cardiologist.
2016–2022
2023
2023
Little Star Care Center
A second centre opens in Pimpri-Chinchwad so families on the northern side of Pune no longer have to cross the city for a specialist opinion.
Today
A registered Foundation
More than fifteen years of camps, treatment and training are formalised under Save Little Heart Foundation — one mission, so a child's address or family income is never the deciding factor in their care.
Today
What Drives Us
Compassionate Care for Tiny Hearts
Vision
To ensure every child with congenital heart disease receives timely, quality medical and surgical care, giving them the opportunity to lead healthy, fulfilling lives.
Mission
To save young lives by providing free or affordable heart surgeries, medical support and post-treatment care for underprivileged children — raising awareness, mobilising CSR and NGO partnerships, and building a network of compassionate supporters.
Why We Exist
Four Gaps We Set Out to Close
Early detection changes everythingA defect found in the first months of life is usually a straightforward problem. The same defect found years later may not be.
Distance should not be a diagnosisPaediatric cardiology is concentrated in a handful of cities. The children are everywhere.
Cost should not decide the outcomeFamilies should not have to choose between a child’s heart and everything else they own.
One specialist is not enoughTraining the doctors who see these children first is how the reach of paediatric cardiology grows.
Our Approach
Five Commitments Behind Every Camp
Go to the children
Free paediatric cardiac camps in urban and rural Maharashtra, screening children where they are.
Diagnose properly
Full echocardiographic evaluation, not a quick listen — the conditions that matter most are often the quietest.
Treat with less disruption
Wherever a defect can be closed through a catheter instead of open surgery, that is the route we take.
Stay with the family
Follow-up is not an afterthought. Many of these children need watching for years.
Teach
Every neonatologist and paediatrician we train becomes another pair of eyes on another set of children.
0Years of camps
0Free camps held
0Districts reached
The Foundation Ecosystem
One Organisation, Two Centres, One Network
The Foundation holds the mission. The care centres deliver specialist care. The hospital network extends that reach across Maharashtra.
Little Star Care Center
Our second care centre, bringing the same standard of paediatric cardiac care to families across Pimpri-Chinchwad and the northern suburbs of Pune.
Explore the centreOur Hospital Network
Dr. Pankaj Sugaonkar is Chief Paediatric Cardiologist at the hospitals below, giving families across the state access to specialist care closer to home.
Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune
Sahyadri Hospital, Pune
N.M. Wadia Hospital, Pune
Jehangir Hospital, Pune
M.G.M. Hospital, Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar
New Life Hospital, Latur
Every Little Heart Deserves a Chance
Meet the doctor behind the Foundation, see the work in action, or help us make specialist paediatric cardiac care accessible to more children.