European Heart for Children offers scholarships to doctors from disadvantaged countries to participate in training courses, gives financial support to missions and intervenes in the improvement of hospital structures.
TRAINING
High-level training in paediatric cardiac surgery and cardiology
The shortage of human resources, such as qualified doctors and nurses, is one of the most serious and complex issues, and many hospital centres are unable to function precisely due to the lack of specialized medical professionals. Therefore, the training of young doctors becomes a priority for developing countries and beyond. This is an extra problem in the field of cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology for CHD. Training is the primary tool for learning.
Recently, the technology has made a revolution in the classical training.
The entire world is becoming more and more digital, and medical training is often performed remotely.
By using 3D printing from magnetic resonance of children with congenital heart diseases, it is possible to reproduce small hearts with the most common pathologies to be used for the training of cardiac surgeons.
The Aesculapius Project uses this technology and aims at training, free of charge in Milan, at least 100 cardiac surgeons and cardiologist per year.
The second part of the Aesculapius Project is aimed at building the “Aesculapius Network” of cardiology and cardiac surgeons to be continuously updated and to do research in their own countries.
Nine 1-week scholarships to Dr Zied Daoud, Tunisia; Dr Anees Youns Abdulali, Lybia; Dr Hala Tatem, Algeria; Dr Hicham Benyoussef, Morocco; Dr Hesham M. A. S. Alkady, Egypt; Dr Khaled Boye, Mauritania; Dr Hassanen M. I. Al Ogla, Iraq; Dr Christian Ngongang Ouankeu, Dschang, Cameroon; Dr Mfeukeu Kuate Liliane, Yaoundè, Cameroon,v for the Aesculapius project.” IN “22 1-Week scholarships to Dr Zied Daoud, Tunisia; Dr Anees Youns Abdulali, Lybia; Dr Hala Tatem, Algeria; Dr Hicham Benyoussef, Morocco; Dr Hesham M. A. S. Alkady, Egypt; Dr Khaled Boye, Mauritania; Dr Hassanen M. I. Al Ogla, Iraq; Dr Christian Ngongang Ouankeu, Dschang, Cameroon; Dr Mfeukeu Kuate Liliane, Yaoundè, Cameroon, (First Group); Dr Andrei Tarus, Romania, Dr Kammel Kaddour Touati (Algeria), Dr Shaimaa Amer Mahmood, Kurdistan, Dr Osama Abdulla Mohammed Taher, Kurdistan, Dr Abdallah Mohamed Mostata Nosair, Egypt, Dr Said Makani, Morocco, and Dr Abdel Razek Moussaoui, Algeria (Second group); Dr Imen Mgarrech, Tunisia, Dr Taieb Cherif, Tunisia, DR. Ridha Lakehal, Algeria, Dr Zouheir Houmri, Algeria, Dr Sherif Mohamed Ahmed, Egypt, and Dr Haimida Madi, Mauritania (third group) for the Aesculapius project
One 1-year grant has been awarded to Dr Driss Oukachou, who works as a resident physician at the Paediatric Department at UHC Hassan II – Fez, Morocco. His training at the IRCCS Policlinico San Donato in the Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Department will let him acquire the capacity to perform those interventions that are currently not available at his hospital in Morocco upon his return. His training started in February 2020 and expired in January 2021.
Two 6-month grants have been awarded to Dr Lamin E.S. Jaithe from Gambia and a cardiologist from Malawi (2013). Their training at the Aswan Heart Centre, Egypt will give them the ability to perform those interventions that are currently not available at their hospitals in Gambia and Malawi upon their return. Their training started in June 2013 and ended in February 2014.
One 1-year grant (2012-2013) has been awarded to Dr Sintayehu Fekadu, cardiologist at the Hospital in Jimma, Southern Ethiopia. His training at the Aswan Heart Centre, Egypt will give him the knowledge and capacity to perform those interventions that are currently not available at his hospital in Jimma upon his return. His training started at the beginning of 2012 and ended in December 2012.
One 1-year grant (2012-2013) has been awarded to Dr Susy Kotit, who works as a cardiologist at the Aswan Heart Centre, Aswan, Egypt. Her training period was at the Harefield Heart Science Centre (Magdi Yacoub Institute).
Two 6-month grants have been awarded to Ms Samar Ismail and to Ms Lenda Mohamad, both nurses at the Cardiac Centre in Damascus, Syria. Their training started in February and finished in August 2011 at the Intensive Care ward at the San Donato Hospital in Milan, Italy.
One 2-year grant has been awarded to Dr. Ahmed Saif, cardiac surgeon at the Agouza Police Hospital, El Nil St. Agouza, Cairo, Egypt. Training was conducted at the San Donato hospital in Milan, Italy (2009 – 2011)
MISSIONS
European Heart for Children organizes and support humanitarian missions aimed to diagnose and treat children with CHD.
Each mission normally lasts 5 to 6 days which are sufficient to diagnose 250 children and to operate on 10-12 of them according to the severity of the pathology. The others are treated with cardiologic interventions or pharmacologically.
The missions are conducted by volunteers and the typical equipe consists of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, anaesthesiologists, intensivists, nurses, and technicians.
Ukraine, Kiev: March 2022 – ongoing
3 children examined, 3 children operated on
Romania, Bucharest: 29th November – 19th December 2020
82 children examined, 60 children operated on
Morocco, Casablanca: 10th – 11th June 2019
20 children examined, 0 children operated due to condemned surgical room
Nigeria, Ibadan: 4th – 6th February 2019
23 children examined, 0 children operated due to condemned surgical room
Morocco, Casablanca: 13th – 16th January 2019
40 children examined, 8 children operated on
Morocco, Casablanca: 16th – 18th October 2018
31 children examined, 5 children operated on
Morocco, Casablanca: 22nd – 25th October 2017
24 children examined, 5 children operated on
Cameroon, Shisong: 21st – 29th June 2017
40 children examined, 10 children operated on
Egypt, Cairo: 21st – 26th April 2017
100 children examined, 9 children operated on
Morocco, Casablanca: 24th -28th February 2017
29 children examined and diagnosed, 5 children with complex congenital heart diseases operated on
Jordan, Amman: 20th – 27th March, 2015
51 children examined, 9 children operated on
Jordan, Amman: 16th – 23rd May, 2014
40 children examined, 12 children operated on
Jordan, Amman: 16th – 23rd May, 2014
40 children examined, 12 children operated on
Kurdistan, Duhok: 15th – 22nd February, 2014
236 children examined, 24 interventional procedures and 11 children operated on
Romania, Bucharest & Iasi: 2nd– 8th February, 2014
37 children examined, 12 children operated on
Tunisia, Tunis: 26th January- 2nd February, 2014
53 children examined, 7 children operated on
Jordan, Amman: 17th – 21th January, 2014
26 children examined
Cameroon, Shisong: 2nd – 10th November, 2013
74 children examined, 8 catheterization interventions and 13 children operated on
Morocco, Fez: 12th – 15th July, 2013
15 children examined, 3 children operated on
Northern Iraq-Kurdistan, Duhok: 11th – 18th May, 2013
243 children examined, 31 children operated on, 18 catheterization interventions and 13 open heart surgeries performed
Northern Iraq-Kurdistan, Duhok: 13th – 19th January, 2013
62 children examined, 14 children underwent hemodynamic procedures and 12 children were operated on
Tunisia, Tunis: 25th -30th March, 2012
30 children examined, 8 operated on
Northern Iraq -Kurdistan, Duhok: 17th – 24th March, 2012
350 children examined and diagnosed. 15 children underwent hemodynamic procedures and 7 children underwent surgical procedures
Morocco, Casablanca: 18t h– 22nd December, 2011
48 children examined and diagnosed. 4 children with complex congenital heart diseases operated on
Northern Iraq -Kurdistan, Duhok: 15th – 17th October, 2011
63 children examined of which several were scheduled for operations at a future mission
Haiti, Port au Prince: 30th September – 11th October
47 children examined, 11 operated on
Syria, Damascus: 23rd – 25th July 2011
40 children examined, 5 operated on
Morocco, Casablanca: 5th – 9th February 2011
56 children examined, 4 operated on
Egypt, Cairo: 3rd – 8th December 2010
75 children examined, 9 operated on
Egypt, Aswan: 19th-21th June 2010
92 children examined, 11 operated on
Morocco, Casablanca: 6th – 11th June 2010
65 children examined, 6 operated on
Syria, Damascus: 28th March – 1st April 2010
88 children examined, 10 operated on
Syria, Damascus: 17th – 21st April 2009
82 children examined, 5 operated on and 2 transferred to Italy for more complex surgery
BUILDINGS
European Heart for Children, together with Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo or with Chain of Hope, contributes to build or equipe paediatric cardiological units.
European Heart for Children, together with Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo or with Chain of Hope, contributes to build or equipe paediatric cardiological units.
Up to now, European Heart for Children has:
participated in the construction of a lecture theatre at the Cardiac Centre in Aswan, Egypt.
The theatre is used mainly for educational purposes or for scientific meetings;
co-built, with Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo, a new Cardiovascular Disease Institute at the University College Hospital of Ibadan, Nigeria.
The institute is used for both basic research and residential teaching for postgraduate doctors;
contributed, together with Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo, to the installation and full equipment of a cath lab and of an echoroom at La Rabta Hospital in Tunisi, Tunisia.
The cath lab has been active since 2021, performing more than 600 interventions every year.