Four children to get life-saving heart surgery

Four children will be receiving life saving cardiac surgery at the Bustamante Hospital for Children this week.

The surgeries will be carried out by a medical team from Chain of Hope UK who will be working alongside the hospital team tomorrow and Friday.

The team will be operating on children aged 11 months to 12 years who have various cardiac defects.

“We are truly grateful to the Chain of Hope Foundation for their continued support over the years in assisting the hospital to shorten our waiting list for children in need of cardiac surgery,” Lyttleton Shirley, Chairman for the South East Regional Health Authority Board said.

“Each surgery performed signifies a child that is given the opportunity to go on and lead a normal life, where possible, which may not have been achievable without the assistance of Chain of Hope.”

Shirley also noted that, in addition to performing surgeries during the mission, focus is also placed on the transfer of knowledge to ensure the sustainability of the hospital’s cardiac programme and so each team member is paired with a local counterpart to facilitate the training process.

“The training component of the mission is integral as we anticipate the construction of the state-of-the-art Cardiac Centre, which will allow for more cardiac surgeries to be done, ultimately reducing the extensive waiting list at the hospital,” Shirley said.

The health authority says each year, 400 to 500 children are born in Jamaica with congenital heart disease.

Of that number, approximately 50 per cent will require medical or surgical intervention or will face premature death.

Currently, between one and three cardiac surgeries are done at Bustamante Hospital each week.

Meanwhile, Chain of Hope UK will be donating specialised equipment valued at £2,667 to the hospital.

This is Chain of Hope’s second mission to the island since the beginning of the year.

In February, the team performed four surgeries.

Chain of Hope UK has been conducting surgical missions to Jamaica since 1997 to treat children and adolescents with complex heart problems.

To date, more 100 surgeries have been performed during surgical missions at the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

editorial@gleanerjm.com