The services were provided between 2 and 9 May through a charity cardiac mission at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital in the capital.
Representational Image. Photo: Collected
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Representational Image. Photo: Collected
A total of 153 children suffering from congenital heart disease (CHD) have received free medical treatment under a joint initiative by the Kids Heart Foundation and Qatar Charity.
The services were provided between 2 and 9 May through a charity cardiac mission at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital in the capital.
During the mission, around 108 children with congenital heart defects underwent completely free device implantation and other interventional procedures.
Earlier, under the same initiative during Ramadan, another 31 children with congenital heart disease received treatment free of cost.
In addition, 14 children were selected for open-heart surgery. Of them, five have already successfully undergone surgery, while the remaining nine are scheduled to receive operations within the next few weeks.
The Kids Heart Foundation was established by paediatric cardiologist Brigadier General (Retd.) Professor Dr Nurunnahar Fatema Begum.
For more than a decade, the foundation has been providing free treatment to underprivileged children with congenital heart disease with support from various national and international organisations.
The latest charity mission was supervised by Professor Dr Nurunnahar Fatema Begum, who is also the president of the foundation and head of the Cardiology Department at Bangladesh Specialized Hospital.
The Bangladesh team included Dr Ashik Md Raihan Chowdhury, Dr Priyanka Das, Cath Lab Chief Technician Md Anwar Hossain, along with team members Kalam, Nayeem, Ashraf and Shah-Alam.
A delegation from Qatar Charity, along with expert physicians from different countries, participated in the mission.
Among them were Dr Md Noman from the United States, Dr Iyad Al Amouri from Jordan, Dr Hasan from Palestine and Dr Abdullah from Qatar, who supported the overall supervision and management of the programme.
Congenital heart disease remains a silent killer among children.
Globally, around eight to 10 out of every 1,000 children are born with CHD. In Bangladesh, the rate is even higher, estimated at 18 to 25 per 1,000 births.
Although many cases can now be treated through minimally invasive interventional procedures without major surgery, the high cost of treatment prevents many families from accessing care, resulting in the loss of countless young lives each year.
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