Six of the 18 children who were set to benefit from heart surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) have successfully completed their surgeries and are recovering, GINA said on Saturday.
The surgeries were supported by International Children’s Heart Foundation (Baby Heart). Two of the six children have already been sent home. Eight are expected to undergo surgeries in the new week.
The Baby Heart Foundation is a non-profit group that travels around the world to help in paediatric cardiac surgeries.
During an interview with the Government Information Agency (GINA) on Saturday, Dr. Rodrigo Soto, Chief Executive Officer of Baby Heart Foundation said that the experience had been fantastic thus far. He expressed gratitude to the Government of Guyana for allowing the organisation to offer its programme here.
A special Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was also refurbished at the GPHC to enable post-surgery care for the children, and Baby Heart Foundation donated some equipment for the unit, GINA said.
Meanwhile, Director of the Echocardiography Education Programme at the GPHC, Dr. Debra Isaac said that when the programme first started it was found that children accounted for almost 40% of the heart ultrasounds that were done, and many needed surgery. Unfortunately, only a few had access to surgical interventions.
GINA said that Dr Isaac noted that those children who were sent abroad for surgeries did not benefit from proper follow-up care. However, with the help of the Health Ministry and Dr Marissa Seepersaud, paediatric surgeon at the GPHC, a Guyana Paediatric Steering Committee was established with the aim of identifying children who need surgery.
Through this programme, Dr Isaac noted that the Baby Heart team came in and those children were looked at.
GINA said that the team will be visiting Guyana in July to conduct more surgeries.
