Italian Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Catheterization Team Return to Gaza To Begin Life-Saving Mission
Italian Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Catheterization Team Return to Gaza To Begin Life-Saving Mission

This week, two Italian teams specializing in pediatric cardiac surgery and catheterization returned to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip. The teams conducted examinations for thirty-six children suffering from heart problems. Ten open-heart surgeries and twelve cardiac catheterization surgeries have been scheduled, with four successful operations completed so far. This mission is led by pediatric cardiac surgeons Dr. Vincenzo Luisi, Dr. Francesco Santoro, Dr. Elena Ribera, Dr. Roberto Tumbarello, pediatric cardiologist Dr. Vittoria DeLucia, anesthesiologists Dr. Pierantonio Furfori, Dr. Fabio Panetta, Dr. Alessia Franceschi, perfusionist Federica Raffin, and ICU nurses Giada Boggi, Corrado Viola, and Francesco Anedda. Dr. Vincenzo Luisi is part of the pediatric cardiology surgery committee on our medical advisory board and has led over forty volunteer missions to Palestine with PCRF and treated over four-hundred sick children with life-saving cardiac surgery. PCRF is the only NGO in Palestine running pediatric cardiac surgery missions to save the lives of children in Gaza.