International Children’s Heart Foundation Reacts to News of Surgical Training Agreement in Iraq
By International Childrens Heart Foundation, PRNESunday, July 17, 2011
MEMPHIS, Tennessee, July 18, 2011 -
International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF), a non-profit
organization headquartered in the United States and dedicated to
providing lifesaving surgical care to children with congenital
heart disease throughout the developing world, reacted today to
news of the recently signed agreement between the Ibn Al-Bitar
Specialized Center for Cardiac Surgery in Baghdad and the
Hotel-Dieu De France Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. The
agreement, signed one week ago, states that the staff of Ibn
Al-Bitar will receive training from the charity Heartbeat and
international NGO Chain of Hope to improve the skills needed to
perform heart surgeries on infants. The extensive training
means that it will be three years before doctors can operate on
Iraqi children. Since 2010 , ICHF has been training,
educating and performing complex children’s heart surgeries at
Nasiriyah Heart Center and is developing another program with the
Iraqi Ministry of Health to continue there long term.
“The International Children’s Heart Foundation works in many
countries around the globe with one mission, to help the most
critically sick children no matter of race or religion and we do
this because it is our passion and for no other reason,” said
Alberto Marzan, ICHF’s CEO. ”The goal of our educational
program is to empower the local medical professionals to be self
sustaining after completion of our curriculum. Our agreement
with the Iraqi Ministry of Health means that the children of Iraq
will have consistent heart healthcare at Nasiriyah Heart Center for
at least a year while the Baghdad staff at Ibn Al-Bitar are
properly trained over the next three years.”
ICHF will complete the first year of the existing program
sponsored by the Ministry of Health with a trip in November.
Together with the Administration of the Nasiriyah Heart Center and
the Regional Health Care Directorate of Nasiriyah, the ICHF is
currently in the process of forming a new program with the Iraqi
Ministry of Health. This program would enable ICHF and
their in-country coalition with Living Light International and
Preemptive Love to continue to operate and train medical staff in
Iraq by having round-the-clock pediatric cardiac care for a full
year at the Nasiriyah Heart Center. If the program is
approved, it will begin early 2012.
Dr. William Novick, ICHF’s founder and medical director, has
already been nominated to the Steering Committee of the new
Nasiriyah Heart Center, which is under construction and should be
completed by years end. The hospital is one of the newest in
Iraq and has three floors, four operating rooms, 15 ICU beds and 90
patient ward beds. ”When completed, the Nasiriyah Heart
Center will give Iraq two premier centers in which children can
receive appropriate heart care,” said Novick. Also under
construction, Ibn Al-Bitar is being rebuilt because of severe
damage during Desert Storm and will be finished in 2012.
ICHF has performed 106 heart surgeries in Nasiriyah and
Sulimaniya since they began coming to Iraq. Surgeries of note
include the first arterial switch ever performed in Iraq and
successfully operating on an infant that was told by multiple
doctors throughout Iraq that there was no hope for survival.
That baby was recently sent home from the hospital after
surgery by ICHF staff and volunteers and is now thriving. “The
Nasiriyah team is learning about the care of newborns and infants
with complex heart problems now, and if the plan that is currently
before the Ministry of Health is approved we can accelerate this
unique learning process while caring for children with complex
heart disease at the same time,” said Novick.
About ICHF
Since 1994, the mission of the International Children’s Heart
Foundation (ICHF) has been to bring the skills, technology and
knowledge to diagnose and care for children with congenital heart
disease to developing countries that request our help. ICHF does
this regardless of country of origin, race, religion or gender.
Our teams are assembled from world class cardiac care
centers. We implement our informational curriculum by
operating with and educating local health care professionals.
With this training, they in turn can care for the local
children. Since inception, over 5,000 operations have been
performed in countries that span all continents.
For additional Information, visit ICHF on web at
on Facebook at
Donate now at
Cortney Mohnk, Public Relations and Events Coordinator, International Children’s Heart Foundation, +1-858-733-2007 cell, cortney.mohnk at babyheart.org
Tags: International Children's Heart Foundation, Iraq, July 18, Memphis, Tennessee
