On February 11th, seventeen patients from Guyana were flown to Max Hospital, in Delhi, India for medical treatment. The group consisted of 15 children and 2 adults. All the children were suffering from congenital heart disease and because Guyana does not have any paediatric cardiologist or paediatric cardiac surgeon, the children could not be treated in their homeland. The children were suffering from various congenital heart disorders such as ventricular septal defects (VSD), atrial septal defects (ASD), patent ductus ateriosus (PDA), Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and rhuematic heart disease (RHD).
The mission was arranged by Three Rivers Kids Foundation (TRKF), a registered charity in Onatrio, Canada.
This is the largest group (17 patients) that TRKF had taken at any one time. "There were many challenges on this mission, apart from having seriously ill children, there were other issues like bed availability in the ICU, accommodation for the children and their mothers and transportation for such a large group", said Jeanette Singh. "Most of the patients from Guyana require longer stay in the ICU after surgery mainly because they have developed pulmonary artery hypertension as a result of being left untreated since birth", says Singh, co-founder of Three River Foundation.
"This mission was made possible through the kind and generous donation of Chris Mohan, a Guyanese businessman based in Toronto. Chris donated $55,000 (Canadian Dollars) which enabled the foundation to help such a large group get the much needed medical treatment. The foundation is also very grateful to the Ministry of Health of Guyana for its financial contribution", says Jeanette Singh.
Sincere gratitude to Dr. Mallika Mootoo of St. Joseph Mercy Hospital who provided medical support to some of the more seriously ill children before they left for India and for rendering their follow up care. The foundation would also like to thank Dr. Viresh Mahajan, Dr. K.S. Dagar and the rest of the cardiac team from Max Hospital in Delhi for the excellent care they provided to the patients.
The foundation is run by volunteers. There are many children from Guyana on the foundation’s waiting list for treatment by the ending of the year.
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