Pakistan Children's Heart Foundation (PCHF) organizes, first of its kind, a training program to offer surgical training and build the capacity of a number of Pediatric Cardiac surgery institutions.
Islamabad, (Pakistan Point News - 2nd Apr, 2018) : Pakistan Children's Heart Foundation (PCHF) organizes, first of its kind, a training program to offer surgical training and build the capacity of a number of Pediatric Cardiac surgery institutions. The 14-member medical mission is comprised of renowned Cardiac surgeons, interventionists, anesthesiologists, nurses, respiratory therapists and technicians from France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Canada and the United States.
"The mission, over the last 4 days, has performed 31 interventions and 8 complex Cardiac surgeries in Lahore and Faisalabad along with Pakistani surgeons. The highlights of Mission work included performing of Nikaidoh Procedure for the Correction of Transposition of the Great Arteries, Ventricular Septal Defect and Pulmonary Stenosis and the use of ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation) on a child after the surgery whose heart stopped working.
These procedures have been used for the first time in any public-sector hospital in Pakistan" told Children Hospital Dean, Prof Masood Sadiq and Prof. Anjum Jalal of Institute of Cardiology, Faisalabad in a joint briefing. The Pakistan Children's Heart Foundation CEO, Mr. Farhan Ahmad stated that the purpose of organizing this mission is to build the capacity of local teams and position PCHF as the bridge between international and local expertise to improve the quality of care.
The key members of the Mission are Dr. Salahuddin Ahmad, Chief of Cardiac Surgery at Hamad Medical Centre, Qatar; Dr. Younes Boudjemline, Paediatric Cardiologist & Director of the Catheterization Laboratories at SIDRA Medical Centre, Qatar; Dr. Arif Hussain, Paediatric Cardiologist FROM IWK Children Hospital and Associate Professor of Paediatrics at Dalhousie University, Canada; Dr. Saif Ur Rehman, Peadiatric Cardiac anaesthesiologist at King Faisal Specialist Hospital, Saudi Arabia; Ms.
Julianne Koehler Metcalf, Clinical Educator at PICU, United States; Dr. Babur Raffique, Associate Professor of Anaesthesiology UT Health McGovern Medical school, United States. The international team was joined by leading local professionals including Prof. Masood Sadiq, Dean Children's Hospital, Dr. Asim Khan, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Salman Shah, Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Dr. Najam Hayder, Pediatric Cardiologist in Lahore & Prof. Anjum Jalal Executive Director, FIC, Dr.
Zaigham Rasul & Dr. Abdul Razzaq Mughal, Pediatric Cardiologist at Faisalabad. The Mission has been a charitable endeavor where both international and local experts have not charged any fees for their services. The on-ground arrangements were made by Pakistan Children's Heart Foundation and it's USA chapter in collaboration with Children Hospital in Lahore and Faisalabad institute of Cardiology at Faisalabad. "Alhamdolillah, the dream of Mission has been realized in the result of months-long effort towards assembling a dedicated team of local and international experts.
The Mission though first of in-kind in Pakistan has been a great success. We look forward to continuing this effort and take it beyond the public hospitals to private healthcare centers over the period of time" stated Dr. Saif Rehman the chief of Medical Mission. Currently, there are less than 10 Pediatric Cardiac Surgeons and less than 30 Cardiologists working in 8 public & private hospitals where more than 50,000 kids are born every year with Congenital Heart Defect in Pakistan.
