Can women with heart disease have a safe pregnancy?

Pre-pregnancy counselling for women with heart disease should begin when they are in their teens even though it is a taboo subject for many parents. Photo: Pixabay

Alif and Nur, who are in their 20s, are looking forward to getting married but foremost on their minds is whether Nur can have a safe pregnancy as she was diagnosed with a heart problem when she was just six months old.

This is the main concern of young couples who walk into the consultation room of Dr Geetha Kandavello, consultant paediatric and adult congenital cardiologist at the National Heart Institute (IJN): whether women with heart disease can get married and have children.

This is a very valid concern and and as such it is crucial that young women are counselled early on, she advises.