SANAA: A team of Saudi cardiologists wrapped up a one-month mission to Yemen during which they carried out more than 200 successful cardiac surgeries on needy children.
The 40-member team, dispatched from the Prince Sultan Cardiac Center in Riyadh, performed operations, including 137 open-heart surgeries, for 227 children suffering from cardiac deformation.
The surgeries were performed at the cardiac center of Al-Thawra General Hospital in Sanaa. The team also examined 630 children for heart deformity.
Dr. Huwaida Bint Obaid Al-Quthami, who headed the team, said “all the patients were discharged in good condition after undergoing the surgeries.”
Al-Quthami said the team could have performed more surgeries, but the bed capacity at the cardiac center was limited.
“The figures are not our ambition,” Al-Quthami told a press conference in Sanaa on Monday. “Our target is the result of the operation,” she said.
Al-Quthami said most of the cases were complicated due to tardy diagnosis or late admission to hospital. She said the team also helped train Yemeni interventional cardiologists to carry out life-saving surgeries.
Director-General of Al-Thawra Hospital Dr. Ahmad Al-Ansi praised the Saudi cardiologists, saying they were “the most successful team to visit our hospital so far.”
He said all the checkups and surgeries were free of charge, noting that a cardiac surgery could cost $6,000 to $8,000 in private hospitals.
The mission, commissioned under directives from Crown Prince Sultan, was part of efforts aimed at consolidating relations between the two countries in the medical field, Al-Quthami said.
This was the team’s second mission to Yemen. In 2005, the team performed 111 surgeries.
