27 children with congenital heart defects to undergo life-saving surgeries by year-end

The Guyana Government is partnering with Apollo Health Systems from India to perform more than two dozen critical procedures for children with congenital heart defects in the coming weeks and months here.

A cohort of 17 children will be the first to undergo the life-saving heart surgeries between September 28 and October 2 at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPHC), thus saving families travel expenses and time. Another 10 children are also listed for surgery in December as part of a second phase.

President Dr Irfaan Ali made these announcements on Saturday during an engagement with the parents of those young beneficiaries.

“This is something that is painful for parents, it’s painful for relatives, it’s painful for a medical team when these interventions are needed, and we’re not in a position to deliver… [what] is required. And you know these interventions cost a lot of money overseas, and then parents have the difficulty of travelling; they had persons having problems with visas and all of this,” the Head of State noted.

In addition to the surgeries, the Government will also support transportation for all children and accommodation for out-of-town children during the upcoming surgeries.

Months ago, the Guyanese Leader indicated his government’s intention to bring down the number of specialised cardiac surgeries required by children of all ages to zero. Currently, there are about 40 children in total listed for cardiac surgeries in the local public health system.

According to President Ali, they hope to conduct surgeries on the remaining children early next year.

“So, we’ll have 27 [surgeries done in total] by the end of this year, and 13 more will remain on the list of 40 that we have. So, by the end of the first quarter of next year, we will have zero kids in Guyana waiting for this specialised cardiac care and service.”

“We’re making this investment because not only we promise it, we are making this investment because we care… And this is the type of investment we are making in our children. This is the type of investment we are making to have your kids have a beautiful, rewarding future like any other child,” the Head of State emphasised.

These interventions come as the government invests heavily in enhancing the local health sector to deliver world-class care. But while the necessary infrastructure to support this effort is being built out, the government recognises that immediate interventions are needed to address critical needs such as the life-saving surgeries required by these children.

In the past, a medical team from the United States would usually travel to Guyana to operate on children here. However, local doctors have found that some of the cases, such as the 40 listed, are extremely complex and time-consuming procedures that the regular US team would not be able to perform.

It is against this background that the government collaborated with Apollo Health System to send a comprehensive team of specialists on a five-day medical mission. They will work with Guyanese doctors to conduct the surgeries.

“We are very proud that we were able to reach out to Apollo Hospital. This is one of the leading international hospitals in India… They have been doing these types of surgeries, not only for people in India but around the world, and generally people would travel to India to get those operations; but here it is, we are bringing an entire team to Guyana, and they’ll be operating using our facilities here in Guyana,” Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony disclosed during Saturday’s engagement.

He added, “You can’t want a better team than that. They have been doing successful cardiac surgeries, and we are very, very pleased to have them.”

Meanwhile, the Head of the Paediatrics Department at GPHC, Dr Tarik Davidson, welcomed the support from the Government, through the Health Ministry, for this timely intervention with the specialised cardiac mission. He explained that there are at least two or three other missions that cost millions of dollars annually, but some patients require more critical and immediate care.

“It’s a very expensive venture. It is a very technical venture, and this mission…we’re going to be doing cases that are a little bit even more complex than we would normally do, and we expect the patients to spend a long time in the hospital… And we have other patients who are also waiting, and we would like to express to them that we will get to everyone. Just give us a couple of months, and as the President said, by next year, our hope is that we have no [children] patients in Guyana who are waiting for cardiac surgery,” Dr Davidson stated.

On the other hand, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the GPHC, Robbie Rambarran, and the Assistant Director of Nursing at GPHC, Charmaine Cornette, assured parents and relatives that the children who are set to undergo surgery in the coming weeks and months at the city hospital would be in good hands.