Open heart surgery on a baby. Open heart surgery may be required to replace defective heart valves, to repair a hole in the heart, or to bypass a diseased region of heart muscle. Babies born with congenital heart defects may require such treatment to allow them to survive. This surgery was performed by Dr Devi Shetty, an expert cardiac surgeon at Narayana Hrudayalaya hospital in Bangalore, India. Dr Shetty performed the first ever open heart surgery on an infant in India.