Tribune News Network
Doha
In cooperation with Somalia’s Ministry of Health (MOH), the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) is implementing a Little Hearts medical convoy in Somalia.
A volunteering medical delegation from Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) and Sidra Medicine was deployed to perform cardiac catheterizations for 70 children with congenital heart defects at the Somali Sudanese Specialized Hospital (SSSH) in Mogadishu.
The launching ceremony was attended by Chargé d’Affaires at Qatar’s Embassy in Somalia HE Rashid Labeed Al-Abdullah; Somali Minister of State for Health Dr. Maryam Mohamed Hussein; and representatives of the Turkish Red Crescent, the Somali Red Crescent Society, Physicians Across Continents (PAC), Qatar Charity, SSSH, and QRCS’s office in Somalia.
Costing a total of $261,205 (QR952,092), the project involves examining 200 children suffering heart problems and selecting 70 patients to undergo therapeutic cardiac catheterizations.
Another component of the project was a training workshop on Basic Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU), which was held in cooperation with MOH and the Somali Medical Association (SMA). Attended by 170 local medical professionals, it was a two-day capacity-building event for the doctors and nurses dealing with critical paediatric cases.
The medical convoy is implemented by a volunteering medical delegation from Doha, comprising Dr. Hesham Al Saloos, cardiac catheterization consultant and division chief of cardiology at Sidra Medicine, and Dr. Baha Al-Din Hassan Ahmed, paediatric intensivist at HMC.
Over the first four days of the project, 35 successful cardiac catheterizations were performed, including complex cases that required significant procedures. One of the beneficiaries was a 17-day-old, born with a rare congenital heart defect that caused a severe lack of oxygen in the blood, putting the baby girl at risk of death.
Following the catheterization, the baby’s mother warmly thanked QRCS and the hospital for saving the life of her daughter, who was happily recovering.