On August 28, a five-member team of doctors and nurses from University Hospital in Padova, Italy arrived in East Jerusalem for a week of life-saving open-heart surgery on sick babies from the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestine Children’s Relief Fund has been sponsoring pediatric cardiac surgery missions to Palestine for over 10 years and have saved the lives of thousands of children from all over...

On July 17, a 6-member team of doctors and nurses from Messa, Italy provided life-saving surgery for sick children from Gaza and the West Bank for the fourth time in 2010.  Led by surgeon Dr. Stefano Luisi, the team also included surgeon Dr. Giovanni Concistrè, cardiologist Dr. Luciano DeSimone, nurse Giuseppina Dolfi and medical engineer Paolo Marcheschi. Perfusion was provided by Southampton, UK specialist...

On June 25th, 3-year-old Takwa Faraj Al Salem from the Syrian village of Al-Raqah was sent with her mother Setah to Bergamo, Italy for life-saving open-heart surgery by Dr. Giancarlo Crupi.  This girl was born with a congenital heart defect that could not be treated in her country. Dr. Crupi has led several missions to Palestine over the past 10 years, providing hundreds of Palestinian children with life-saving...

On June 24, a 5-member team of doctors and nurses from Royal Brompton Hospital in London completed a mission to Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, where they provided life-saving open-heart surgery for several children from the besieged Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank.  Led by surgeon Dr. B. Sethia, who has led several missions to Palestine through the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund since 1999,...

On May 24, Dr. Mike Cooper, a pediatric cardiologist from the Bay Area of California returned to the West Bank to screen dozens of children at the PCRF clinic in Ramallah for congenital heart disease. Dr. Cooper has volunteered with the PCRF several times in the past to see kids with heart disease. His diagnosis then leads to possible surgery at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem, as part of the ongoing effort...

On May 7, a six member team of doctors and nurses from Messa, Italy finished a week of pediatric cardiac surgery at Makassed Hospital on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem.  This is the third mission already in 2010 by surgeon Dr. Stefano Luisi and included intensivist/anesthesiologist  Dr. Paolo del Sarto, physiotherapist Alessandra Vanni, surgeon Dr. Tommaso Gasbarri, and pediatrician Dr. Pierina Del...

For the month of April, Dr. Alan Kerr, formerly of Green Lane Hospital in Auckland, provided dozens of children from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank open-heart surgery at Makassed Hospital on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. Dr. Kerr has been volunteering with the PCRF for 10 years and has saved the lives of hundreds of Palestinian children. He’s worked in the past in Ramallah and Shifa Hospital’s...

For the 2nd time in 2010, and for the 10th time since November 2007, a team from Messa, Italy provided life-saving surgery for sick babies from the West Bank and Gaza Strip at Makassed Hospital on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem.  Led by Dr. Stefano Luisi, the team included surgeon Dr. Luigi Arcieri, physiotherapist Maura Dell’Amico, anesthetist Dr. Elisabetta Perversi and perfusionist Ilsa Britta...

At the end of February, Prof. Dominque Metras, the head of pediatric cardiac surgery at the Hopital d’Enfants de la Timone in Marseille, France, completed a week of providing life-saving open heart surgery on over a dozen babies from the West Bank and Gaza Strip at Makassed Hospital on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem. Prof. Metras has led several past missions to Makassed with the PCRF, in cooperation...

Led by surgeon Dr. Katrien Francois, who has been volunteering in Palestine for over 10 years with the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). The team also included intensivist/cardiologist Dr. Kristof Vandekerckhove, who was on his second mission, perfusionist Dirk de Smet, who has been on several past missions, and ICU nurse Charlene De Maerteleire for her first trip. The team treated 14 children...