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Children's paediatric heart surgery unit to be set up

by Edward Arambewela

A Paediatric Heart Surgery Unit, a much-awaited, urgent medical need for children with congenital heart diseases in the country will be met by the government by next year.

Health, Nutrition and Welfare Minister P. Dayaratne gave this assurance to the medical profession on Saturday when he met the British Paediatric Heart Surgery team from Guy's Hospital London, who are now here on a mercy mission to perform a series of open heart surgery operations on children who have been on the waiting list for surgery for over two to three years, mainly due to lack of a paediatric heart surgery unit, exclusively for them.

Minister Dayaratne, welcoming the heart team headed by Dr. Conal Austin said "we are indeed grateful to you for undertaking this mercy mission to Sri Lanka to help these children in need and save their lives.

We are also grateful to you and the Guys Hospital authorities for the offer made to train some of our doctors and also nurses in paediatric heart surgery unit in London. He said this would greatly help in expediting the opening of the LRH Open Heart Surgery Unit, equipment for which is already on order.

The Minister paying a glowing tribute to Mr. Jai Lameer a Sri Lankan domiciled in England, who is the mission co-ordinator said, "I greatly appreciate the hard work you have done in getting this program organised. On behalf of the government and the people I thank you very much for the way you have chosen to demonstrate your love and feeling for your Motherland, in this manner.

The Minister said he hoped other well to do Sri Lankans domiciled abroad would also think of helping Sri Lankan health needs in the same manner.

Mr. Dayaratne while expressing the hope for visits of similar missions from other countries, thanked Dr. Mohan Jayatilleke, a consultant cardiologist in the private sector for the part he had played in working out this program, and all others both here and in the UK connected with it.

Dr. Austin in a short speech said that the team is looking forward to perform as many operations as possible during their 10-day stay here. The team was greatly touched by the warm welcome they received.

The Guys Hospitals was ready to help the country in any way possible to develop its paediatric heart surgery unit at the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital.

Prof. S. Lamabadusuriya Professor of Paediatrics, Colombo University speaking on the necessity for a paediatric heart surgery unit said, unfortunately for the children in Sri Lanka affected with congenital heart conditions needing surgery the country did not have a special heart unit resulting in them having to wait for a long time for surgery in the general heart surgery unit, where the preference was generally for adult surgery.

In this situation, he said, a 70-year-old person with a heart condition needing surgery who had only a few more years to live, got preference over a five-year-old child even though that child had a whole life before him to live.

This is a sad thing, but it really happens.

Prof. Lamabadusuriya further thanked Minister Dayaratna for moving in the matter to expedite the opening of the LRH Paediatric Heart Surgery Unit, which the Minister had said could be done in the course of next year 2002.

Prof. Ravindra Fernando, Professor of Forensic Medicine in the Colombo University who is also connected with this program said that the mission team is expected perform about 20 operations during their stay here.

The program was scheduled to commence at the operating theatres in the Colombo National Hospital from Sunday (yesterday). 

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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