Dubai doctors perform free heart surgeries

NABADAT INITIATIVE IS TREATING OVER 100 NEEDY CHILDREN IN INDIA

More than 100 Indian children will receive free heart surgeries in Mumbai performed by a Dubai Health Authority (DHA) team as part of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives.

Nabadat, which means ‘heartbeat’ in Arabic, is an initiative launched by the Mohammad Bin Rashid Charity and Humanitarian Establishment (MBRCHE) in collaboration with DHA. It provides free medical assistance, surgery and post-surgical care to children whose parents cannot afford to pay for treatment of congenital heart diseases. The Nabadat team consists of cardiac surgeons, cardiac anesthetists, intensivists, perfusionists, nurses and technicians.

During the seven-day initiative that began on July 7, more than 100 children — newborns to 14-year-olds — will receive free surgery and treatment for congenital heart ailments as part of the Nabadat Initiative.

So far, the team has successfully performed 51 procedures (32 open-heart surgeries and 19 catherisations) at Fortis Hospital, Mulund and at S.L. Raheja, a Fortis Associate Hospital in Mumbai.

Additionally, the team will also conduct free paediatric cardiac check-ups to screen as many children as possible.

Dr Obaid Al Jasem, head of cardiothoracic surgery at Dubai Hospital, said some cases are complicated as the children have more than one congenital disease and require multiple treatment.

He said several families with financial difficulties travelled more than 1,200km to Mumbai and receive treatment for their children.

“Many of the cases were ventricular septal defect (VSD), which is a hole between the two pumping chambers of the heart (ventricles). Normally such cases are not complicated; however, since many of the children had long-standing untreated congenital disease the cases were more complex than usual,” Dr Al Jasem said.