Children's Heart Project to eliminate waiting list for surgery

COLOMBO: The Children's Heart Project of Sri Lanka, has since its inception in 1993, helped to raise the number of heart operations performed on children from virtually zero to 600 per year.

The Children's Heart Project of Sri Lanka is a Government approved charity that supports the improvement of diagnosis, treatment and care of children's heart disease.

'Although this is a commendable effort, the statistics are heart-rending, for at any given time currently, there is a waiting list of 1,200 children, many of whom sadly will not survive the wait, says a spokesperson for the Children's Heart Project of Sri Lanka.

One in every 400 children is born with a potentially deadly congenital heart defect. Given the long waiting list, wait a child has to an average of two years for an operation, most often one that they cannot survive.

'In addition, most of these children come from poor families says the spokesperson. Therefore such an illness in the family is virtually the last straw for them'.

At present the only State hospitals that are equipped for paediatric cardiac surgery are the National Hospital, Colombo, the Sri Jayawardanapura Hospital, the Teaching Hospital in Galle and the Lady Ridgeway Children's Hospital. A new facility at the Teaching Hospital Kandy is currently under way.

The aim of The Children's Heart Project of Sri Lanka is to increase the number of successful children's heart operations performed annually and ultimately to eliminate the waiting lists.

This is done primarily by supporting the Government with funds and donations in kind to build capacity, and in the interim by providing financial assistance to a limited number of children requiring urgent intervention and having to seek private sector facilities in Sri Lanka.