Heart surgery for critically ill young children in Fiji
A team from New Zealand is to travel to Fiji to perform heart surgery on a number of critically ill young children.
Transcript
A team from New Zealand is to travel to Fiji to perform heart surgery on a number of critically ill young children.
The Friends of Pacific Foundation has organised the mission, which is to begin at the start of September, and is the first year the mission is to treat children.
Up to 12 children, aged between 7 weeks and 3 years old, are to have heart surgery, and have been chosen because they are either too ill to travel overseas for treatment, or cannot afford to do so.
One of the heads of the team, a heart doctor at Auckland's Starship Hospital, Dr John Wright, estimates about 150 babies are born with congenital heart disease a year in Fiji.
Dr Wright told Leilani Momoisea that it's hoped the surgeries will allow the children to live a normal, healthy life.
JOHN WRIGHT: The ones we're operating on, we hope will just have one operation and will need no further surgery, and if all goes well, we know from years gone by that we would expect them to live into adult life and have children of their own. So we are selecting those who we think we can give a normal heart and that they'll have a good, long life.
LEILANI MOMOISEA: And what kind of surgery is it that you're performing?
JW: Most of the children, it will be open heart surgery. So the surgeon, I'm not a surgeon, I'm a doctor, the surgeon needs to put the child or baby onto a heart-lung machine, to do the work of the heart and lungs, while the heart problem is repaired. And that means that these surgeries take really, quite a long time. They take a good four to six hours each, and we're hoping to do two to three a day so it's going to be quite a long day. But hopefully that'll be one operation and if all goes well, we would anticipate each child spending five, six, maybe seven days in hospital but after that hopefully they'll be able to be discharged.
LM: So as you said, this is the first that it's being done specifically for children. Is there a huge need?
JW: Yes there is, there's a huge, unmet need actually. It's a small number of children we're operating on, and the reason for this is that being the first time we're not sure of all the problems that we'll have to tackle. Because we have to take every piece of equipment it's taking quite a lot of planning by all the members of the team, the nursing staff, technical staff, to try and remember to take and plan for all eventualities. So it takes a lot of planning. But if this all works through and we iron out any teething difficulties, we hope to be able to return and be able to offer surgery to more children.
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