Two more little hearts mended at north Durban hospital
The two latest surgeries performed at the Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre have brought the number of operations the Angel Network has sponsored to eight.
TWO more children have been able to have life-saving heart surgery, once again made possible by an anonymous donor who donated another R1 million to The Angel Network recently.
Also read: North Durban hospital changes lives through life-saving surgeries
Speaking to Northglen News from the hospital, Angel Network Durban volunteer Rachel Kinloch said that surgeries were performed on two patients, a 19-month-old girl Keziah Pillay and a 15-month-old boy Nkanyezi Khanye.
Both patients were chosen by The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa, a non-profit organisation of Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre, who have a close relationship with Inkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital where the waiting list for cardiac surgery for children is extensive.
The public healthcare system is inundated with surgeries of this nature, and one of the foundation’s purposes was to alleviate the bottleneck that Albert Luthuli Hospital faces.
“A few months ago, the donor gave us a R1 million, and the condition was that it be used on children with life-threatening illnesses. This amazing donor wants these children to live and go on to lead happy and healthy lives,” she said.
The latest surgeries have brought the number of operations the Angel Network has sponsored to eight which Kinloch says is such a wonderful feeling.
“Children are innocent. It makes me feel emotional knowing that these children will now live the rest of their lives healthy and reach all their goals,” she said.
The procedures were performed by Dr Darshan Reddy, a cardiothoracic surgeon who specialises in paediatric cardiac surgery, at the Lenmed Ethekwini Hospital and Heart Centre last week.
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The paediatric cardiologist was Dr Himal Dama. Both doctors are a part of the experienced team that manages The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa.
“These two children would have developed heart failure in their late teenage years or early adulthood if their heart defects were not corrected,” said Dama.
“The foundation has now completed 100 successful operations since inception in 2021. It’s wonderful to reach this milestone, but we also hope to get more donors come on board so we can save more lives. It all depends on funding which we so desperately need,” said Dama.
He added that cardiac surgery was expensive, and that was the primary reason why donors often shied away from sponsoring towards The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa.
“Ideally, there should be a formal partnership between government and the private medical sector, but there isn’t, so all we can do is hope that more donors come on board to help us save the lives of more children,” he added.
For more information about The Children’s Cardiac Foundation of Africa, visit https://tccfa.org/
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