A medical team of QRCS is in Dhaka, Bangladesh, as part of the 12th edition of annual cardiac catheterisation programme for poor children with congenital heart problems.
Doha: A medical team of Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) has operated eight children (age 1-8) with heart problems, on the first day of a mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
The team is in Dhaka as part of the 12th edition of QRC’s annual cardiac catheterisation programme for poor children with congenital heart problems. This is the first of 23 medical missions planned by QRCS for 2018, including cardiac catheterisation for children, open-heart surgery, eye camps, etc. These missions would cover 13 countries in Asia and Africa.
Hosted by the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) and the Military Hospital in Dhaka, the mission’s total budget is QR 667,752, raised from the donations of Qatari benevolent individuals.
While, a reception ceremony was held for the delegation at NICVD, which they visit for the second time in almost a year. They met with Professor ABM Abdus-Salam, Head of Paediatric Cardiology Department, Mohamed Habibur-Rahman Khan, Acting Minister of Health, and senior doctors and managers.
Khan thanked Qatar and QRCS for their second visit to Bangladesh, which has more than 400,000 children with heart problems.
“Compared to this huge number, we have only six cardiac centers. Most cases are routinely referred to NICVD,” he said. “My ministry is willing to offer all facilitations for the medical missions from Qatar,” he added.
“We appreciate the efforts of QRCS to help the Rohingya refugees in my country. Yet, the issue is beyond our capacity”.
Prof. Abdus Salam underlined the high cost of such procedures, which cannot be afforded by the households of patients in a mostly poor country.
Ahmed Al Khulaifi, head of QRCS,s delegation, said, “We are grateful for your outstanding hospitality. This is a humanitarian duty towards our Bengali brothers and sisters. Your staff are part of this noble endeavor, which we hope will be an extraordinary success.”
Dr Mohamed T. Noaman, Paediatric Cardiology Consultant at St. Joseph Medical Center, Houston, Texas, the US, said he is happy to work again in Bangladesh.
“This time, the number of patients is almost double,” he said.
“We have three new members to the team from Qatar, the US, and Palestine. This year, we are going to work at two medical facilities at the same time”.
While, more children are still on the list for treatment of atrial septal defect (ASD), ventricular septal defect (VSD), and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). These defects are to be corrected using a ‘heart cath’.
The current edition of the cardiac catheterisation programme will conclude on February 25. Over 14 years, the project has already been implemented in seven countries (Sudan, Syria, Gaza, Mauritania, Morocco, Jordan, and Bangladesh), benefiting 425 children in total.
