Kenyan children benefit from free heart surgery

The words of Saha Mohamed Saha, a father of one of the children, tells it all: “When I was told my son has a heart problem I thought he would die. These people have given us hope.”

Yesterday, his son underwent a heart operation, and he was waiting to take him to the Mombasa Hospital high dependency unit.

Several children found to have less complicated problems were given drugs.

Medical and Education Aid to Kenya is sponsoring free heart surgery at the cost of Sh13 million.

The director of the UK-based organisation, Mike Belliere, said local hospitals have identified more than 150 children at the Coast who need urgent diagnosis and heart operation.

Mr Belliere said the children’s parents are too poor to raise the money required to carry out the expensive surgery.

“When the children are found with heart problems, they are brought to us for diagnosis and the cardiologist suggests what action should be taken,” he said.

His team led by three doctors, Aaron Bell, David Anderson and Dan Taylor will conduct three open-heart surgeries per day.

He said available statistics indicate there could be 5,000 children with heart problems in the country.

“This figure is a guess but surely, the Kenyan children are suffering,” he said.

He said his organisation has started a bid to help the children whose parents are not able to meet the surgery expenses.

“At the moment, when the country has close to 5,000 children with heart problems, my organisation helps about 50 children every year,” he said.

The director said his team of cardiologists have been undertaking three open-heart surgeries per day at the private hospital.

“I thank the Mombasa Hospital and the Voyager Hotel for hosting 20 of my guests for free and the milk firm for providing yoghurt to children to avoid taking water, which is not allowed after the operation,” he said.