Health

New lease of life for 21 heart patients

September 30, 2022 6:10 am

21 children were given a new lease of life after receiving free life-saving heart surgeries over the past two weeks.

The surgeries were conducted at the Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital by a team from the National University Hospital of Singapore.

During the World Heart Day celebration, Hospital Director Doctor Krupali Tappoo commended the specialists for performing the procedures, with the youngest patient being only five months old.

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“They’ve all sacrificed so much of their time to be here and they’ve made an incredible effort to be here with the one goal to save the lives of the children of our beloved nation.”

She says the team was also assisted by nurses from Malaysia and Australia as well as a team from the Sai Sanjeevani Hospital in India.

According to Doctor Laszlo Kiraly, a leading paediatric cardiac surgeon, 75 percent of the procedures were open-heart surgeries.

“In Fiji and the surrounding islands, there are two and a half thousand babies born annually with congenital heart disease. This is a huge number. Sai Sanjeevani Hospital is a great place to become a unique provider for these children.”

In addition, Dr. Tappoo announced that the Sai Prema Foundation will host the South Pacific’s first paediatric cardiac conference in April of next year.

She says the conference will be attended by surgeons, cardiologists, and specialists from around the world, to share their knowledge in the field.

The Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital has provided free life-saving heart surgery to 81 children as well as over 3,000 free echocardiograms.