Italian doctors visit Children’s Cardiac Surgery Center in Damascus

Damascus – Italian doctors currently visiting Syria visited on Monday the Children’s Cardiac Surgery Center in Damascus to learn about the services it provides, carry out a number of complex surgical procedures for children in it, and contribute to providing the center with medical equipment.

Dr. Alessandro Frigiola, head clinician of the Cardio-surgical Operations Unit at San Donato General Hospital in Milan, said that the Italian team will carry out a number of complex surgeries to help save children who are suffering from serious heart conditions, SANA reported.

Frigiola pointed out that their visit seeks to convey a message to European countries and people about the Syrians’ steadfastness, in addition to supporting Syrians and helping their children who constitute Syria’s future. He also hoped that security and stability will return to all Syrian areas.

In turn, Dr. Matthias Angrés, head of the intensive care department at Hamburg University, who is visiting Syria for the first time, said that the Center is carrying out massive efforts in light of the current circumstances, stressing the need to support it to improve its performance.

In his turn, Higher Education Minister Mohammad Amer Mardini said that the Center began as a joint idea between two teams from Syria and Italy years ago, and now the Italian team can witness the progress in the Center’s work and the nature of the services and surgeries it is providing, particularly in light of the current crisis.

He expressed his appreciation to the doctors’ visit, hoping that other Italian civil societies will continue to support the educational health sector which has been affected negatively due to the crisis and the unjust blockade imposed on Syria.

According to its director Dr. Hiam Mahmoud, the Children’s Cardiac Surgery Center, which was established in 2011 via a cooperation program with Italy, carries out between one and two surgeries per day, with an average of 500 surgeries per year, including arterial switch operations for children suffering from transposition of great arteries, a procedure that is quite costly in neighboring countries.