WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th May, 2022) A group of pediatric cardiologists from the US-based Cardiac Alliance began establishing new programs to conduct heart surgeries in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and in Angola, while maintaining the similar existing projects in the middle East, the group's leader Bill Novick told Sputnik.
"We started our DRC program in Lubumbashi (the country's third largest city). In our first trip in March-April, we operated on eighteen children and all of them did very well," Novick said.
Novick noted that the next visit to this African country is scheduled for September.
During his trip to the DRC, Novick also visited Angola to negotiate a possible new project with a local government and said he hopes to receive a response soon.
"I can tell you that they push me pretty hard that if I was not going to Ukraine in June, could I come to Angola for two weeks. We will see, but right now, we set up to go in August," Novick said.
Having visited Africa, the Cardiac Alliance team moved to Lebanon to operate on 50 children, including on refugees from Syria, he said.
"Actually, 13 of 14 children were Syrian refugees. Their parents were very happy with the result of their children's operations," Novick said.
Some of the patients and their families expressed their gratitude to doctors, Novick said, noting that a small girl returned to the intensive care unit (ICU) to thank medical staff for their care.
"She had a really serious problem, so the very fact that she could walk in the ICU and then walk out, made her very happy because before she could not walk far without help. She was delighted," Novick said.
On Friday, the Cardiac Alliance plans to start a three-week-long trip to Basra, Iraq, where it will operate on several dozen children, he also said.
"The initial list that they sent me from Basra has 75 children. We picked 40, and we will see if we can get 30 or 34. I hope we can," Novick added.
The Cardiac Alliance is comprised of medical specialists from different countries who usually work in "hot spots" around the world.
