Cabinet has approved financing to the value of $9.4M or the equivalent of US$44,750 for a team from the International Children’s Heart Foundation (Baby Heart) to perform cardiac operations on 18 children, a release from the Ministry of the Presidency said yesterday.
The arrangement will also enable technical support to the Paediatric Surgical Cardiac Programme at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation. The team is expected to visit Guyana from June 18 to July 2.
The release said that the Government had previously approved a subsidy of about US$5,000 for each cardiac intervention to be done overseas. However, in order to lower the cost, the Ministry of Public Health through Minister, Dr. George Norton, had sought international support to have the surgeries done here.
The International Children’s Heart Foundation, also known as Baby Heart, is a medical charity that assembles volunteer medical teams from around the world.