Medical
Missions: Cardiology
Pediatric
Cardiologist from San Francisco
Screens Children in Palestine
On April 24, Dr. Mike Cooper, a pediatric cardiologist from
Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco started seeing Palestinian
children with congenital heart disease in Ramallah. This is
Dr. Coopers first visit to Palestine with the PCRF. He saw
dozens of children with suspected heart disease from all over
the West Bank, screening them at the Beit Asia center run
by the Union of Palestinian Medical Relief Committees. This
is part of the ongoing effort by the PCRF to identify children
with heart disease in Palestine and get them life-saving free
care through our program at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem,
where we have a volunteer surgeon working for six months from
New Zealand.
Pediatric
Cardiologist Returns to Jenin
On March 25th, Prof. Ra-id
Abdulla, a pediatric cardiologist from the University of Chicago,
went through the PCRF to the West Bank town of Jenin to see
dozens of children with congenital heart disease. Prof. Abdulla
has been going to Jenin on a semi-annual basis to screen children
there, his last mission being in November, 2006. He has detected
dozens of children with heart disease, who the PCRF has sent
to our visiting missions for surgery in Makassed Hospital.
Pediatric
Cardiology team treats Patients in Ramallah
On
March 20th, Dr. Ziad Saba, chief of pediatric cardiology at
Oakland Children's Hospital in California, and Dr. Alistair
Cranston, an anesthesiologist at Birmingham Children's Hospital
in the UK started treating Palestinian children with heart
diseaes at the Ramallah Catheterization lab in the West Bank.
Both Dr. Saba and Cranston have been on several cardiac missions
with the PCRF in the past. Their work helped to treat several
complex heart cases who otherwise could not get the care they
needed in the local system. They later participated in the
IPCRO conference on March 24th.
American
Pediatric Cardiologist Treats Children in West Bank
On
January 10, Dr. Aijaz Hashemi, a pediatric cardiologist from
Loma Linda University in California, arrived in the West Bank
for a week of screening children with congenital heart disease,
as well as to provide invasive care in the Ramallah Catheterization
lab. Many of the children screened by Dr. Hashemi were later
transferred for open-heart surgery by the visiting mission
of Dr. Adil Husain, who was operating at Makassed Hospital
in East Jerusalem.
Palestinian-American
Cardiologist Screens Refugee Children in Lebanon
On
March 13, 2006, Dr. Ziad Saba, the head of pediatric cardiology
at Oakland Children's Hospital in California, went to Beirut
for a week of screening Palestinian refugee children in the
refugee camps in Lebanon. On March 13-14, he saw 20 children
in Haifa Hospital in Bourj Al Barajnah refugee camp. The following
days he screened dozens more children in Badawi refugee camp
in Tripoli and Ein el Hilwa refugee camp in Sidon. There are
approximately 300,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon without
easy access to adequate health care. The PCRF has been providing
free open-heart surgery for Palestinian and Iraqi kids born
with heart disease for 15 years. We will work to place the
children who Dr. Saba determined needed surgery in centers
of excellence overseas.
American
Cardiologists Screened Children,
Trained Doctors in Gaza
On
December 5, 2005. Professor Ra-id Abdulla, a pediatric cardiologist
from the University of Chicago, traveled to Gaza for his second
PCRF mission to Palestine in 2005 to perform a week of screening
children with congenital heart disease, as well as training
for local doctors in echocardiography and lectures for Gaza
physicians in congenital heart disease. Prof. Abdulla has
been on several past PCRF missions to Palestine and Iraq,
and many children's lives have been saved as a result of his
diagnosis.
Pediatric
Cardiology Team Works in Ramallah Hospital
On
Sept. 25, 2005, a three-member team of pediatric cardiologists
went to Ramallah Hospital in the West Bank for a week of invasive
cardiology on children with congenital heart disease. The
team was led by Dr. Ziad Saba, chief of pediatric cardiology
at Oakland Children's Hospital. Also from Oakland Children's
Hospital was Dr. Mark Escajeda, anesthesiologist, and Dr.
Joyce Harden, a pediatric cardiologist from Calgary, Canada.
Belgian
Pediatric Cardiology Team
Treats Children at Ramallah Hospital
On June 10th, 2005, Professor Daniel de Wolf,
a pediatric cardiologist from the University of Gent in Belgium
and Dr. Luc Foubert, an anesthesiologist from Aalst, traveled
to Palestine for a week of invasive pediatric cardiology at
the Ramallah Hospital catheterization lab. They were part
of a larger Belgian-American surgery team doing open-heart
surgery on sick babies at Makassed Hospital in East Jerusalem.
Both Prof. de Wolf and Dr. Foubert have worked in Palestine
many times in the past through the PCRF. During their week
in Ramallah, provided highly specialized invasive procedures
on sick babies from the West Bank and Gaza suffering from
congenital heart disease.
Both were volunteers and are part of an ongoing effort by
the PCRF to build a pediatric cardiac surgery program in Palestine
in cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Makassed Hospital.
View surgery list
|View
Cath list
American
Cardiologist Screens Children in the West Bank
On February 15, 2005 Professor Ra-id Abdulla, a pediatric
cardiologist from the University of Chicago, performed a three-day
mission in the West Bank screening children with congenital
heart disease. This was Dr. Abdulla's second mission to Palestine
through the PCRF, as he was also in the country in 2004 doing
the same work. He saw over 100 children last year, and all
of the children who needed surgery were treated through the
PCRF missions, sent to Israel or sent abroad. Dr. Abdulla
is the editor of the journal "Pediatric Cardiology"
uses a Cypress echocardiography machine, which was donated
last year to the PCRF by the Siemens corporation to use in
the field in places like Jenin and Tulkarem, where the patients
cannot easily travel for such exams due to the checkpoints
and roads. On February 16-17th, Prof. Abdulla screened children
in Jenin.
American-Palestinian
Pediatric Cardiologist
Saves Lives in Palestine
On
December 27th, 2003 Dr. Ziad Saba, the head of pediatric cardiology
at Oakland Children's Hospital, was brought to Palestine by
the PCRF for a week of invasive procedures at the Ramallah
catheterization lab. This was his third trip to Palestine
through the PCRF, and he performed extensive work on sick
children born with congenital heart disease. These were children
who could not be treated locally due to a lack of specialists.
In addition to volunteering his time to come to Palestine,
Dr. Saba also managed to bring tens of thousands of dollars
worth of donated medical supplies to use in the cath lab.
On December 28th, Dr. Saba closed the first PDA in Palestine
using a new devise on 2-year-old Othman Al Manshi from Salfeet.
Working with Dr. Saba were Dr. Mahmoud Nashashibi from Makassed
Hospital in East Jerusalem, and Dr. Mohammed Khalil from Ramallah.
>>>See Surgery List
Chicago
Pediatric Cardiologist Screens Babies for Surgery
On December 30th, 2003 Professor Ra-id Abdulla, a pediatric
cardiologist from the University of Chicago went to Jerusalem
to perform a week of intensive screening of children with
congenital heart disease. Dr. Abdulla had worked in the past
with the PCRF in helping send Iraqi babies to Belgium for
open-heart surgery, and is a member of the IPCRO.
On December 31, Prof. Abdulla screened nearly 30 sick babies
in the Tulkarem region. On January 1, he saw another 30 babies
in Jenin in need of surgery. On January 3-4th, he saw children
in Gaza, and on the 5th, more babies in the Ramallah region.
Dr. Abaulla was able to see children in Jenin and Tulkarem
through the generous loan of a portable echocardiography machine.
The PCRF is currently in the process of trying to obtain such
a machine to use in future missions to the region, as many
children in remote areas cannot reach main diagnostic centers
in Ramallah and Jerusalem due to checkpoints and curfews.
