WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd December, 2022) A group of pediatric cardiac surgeons from the US-based Bill Novick Cardiac Alliance operated on 13 children during its recent trip to the Ukrainian city of Lviv, team leader Bill Novick told Sputnik.
"A total of thirteen operations, of which three on newborns less than 30 days of age. We did three older kids that I operated on ten years ago in Kiev. They needed a final operation," Novick said.
Six out of the thirteen cases were complex, but all children are doing well, he added. "Only one was left in the intensive care unit. He is still in the intensive care unit, but he is ok," he said.
Speaking on the security situation, Novick noted that air radar signals were on every day, but there were no explosions near Lviv.
The team plans to visit Lviv four times next year - in March, June, September and December.
Previously, the US doctors also discussed the idea of renewing their programs in Kharkiv, where they worked many years ago, but this project is not yet ready to start.
"We have already talked about the need to rebuild the Kharkiv program when everything is settled, but it is not settled right now," Novick said.
The Cardiac Alliance established a pediatric heart surgery project in Lviv last year given that there was no such program in the western part of Ukraine at that time and children had to travel to Kiev and other cities to receive relevant treatment.
