23 receive life-saving heart surgeries

Twenty-three persons have received some form of cardiac intervention over the course of two weeks when a delegation from the Baby Heart Foundation visited Guyana.

The Foundation has performed a total of 100 procedures during 11 trips to the country over the past three years.

In its latest visit, both babies and adults benefited from life-saving surgeries and other forms of interventions.

Dr Rodrigo Soto, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation, says the organisation performed 12 surgeries, eight of which were “complex cases”. Dr Soto noted that the Foundation also conducted 11 procedures with the catheterization laboratory.

The Foundation’s mission is to bring the skills, technology and knowledge to cure and care for children with congenital heart disease in developing nations.

According to Dr Soto, approximately 1 in every 100 children will be born with a heart defect that is life-threatening and would require immediate surgical interventions.

The Foundation is expected to return from October 6 to 20, 2018. Parents with babies with congenital heart diseases and suspected heart complications are encouraged to visit the GPHC’s Echo-cardiogram laboratory for screening and to be placed on a waiting list for the organisation’s next trip.[Extracted and Modified from DPI]