Four young Haitians returned to their home country last week having recently undergone life-saving heart surgery at Health City Cayman Islands.
The youngsters, aged between 6 and 16, travelled to Cayman last month to receive these vital surgeries, which were performed free of charge by Health City cardiac surgeons, led by Dr. Binoy Chattuparambil, a senior cardiothoracic and vascular surgeon, and Dr. Sripadh Upadhya, a senior pediatric cardiologist.
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The surgeries were the first performed under Health City’s partnership with Have a Heart, a philanthropic organisation formed in 2000 by Harry Chandi and Manu Chatlani. The charity has supported more than 6,000 pediatric heart surgeries in India to date. Chandi is now broadening this work and is in the process of forming Have a Heart Cayman with Gene Thompson, project director at Health City Cayman Islands.
Staff working at Haiti Cardiac Alliance, a US-based non-profit organisation that has facilitated cardiac surgery for 58 Haitian children and young adults since early 2012, identified the Haitian patients as in desperate need of such surgery.
Among the key stakeholders making the initiative possible was mobile telecommunications operator Digicel, which facilitated transportation for the young patients and their parents to and from the Cayman Islands.
Owen Robinson, Executive Director of Haiti Cardiac Alliance, said there are more than 200 children on its surgical waiting list, a number that grows by the week. He said the organisation was delighted to be contacted by staff at Health City Cayman Islands about a year ago to see how they could assist.
“Half have conditions that can’t be dealt with in Haiti because they are too complex. These young people may also need intensive care after surgery. We are so excited to be working with Health City because we knew they would have the facilities and abilities that we don’t have in Haiti right now.”
Report Courtesy of
