A child with congenital heart disease held by his guardian is welcomed by a nurse on Friday. (Photo by Shi Jiamin/ People’s Daily)
Accompanied by staff of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, 60 Afghan children with congenital heart disease and their guardians arrived in Urumqi, capital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on Thursday to receive free surgeries.
Thirty-one of them will receive free treatment at the People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, while the rest will be treated for free at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University. All surgical treatments are expected to be completed in 3 to 4 days.
Staff from the humanitarian aid plan welcome the children and their guardians at the airport on Friday. (Photo by Shi Jiamin/ People’s Daily)
Due to social tensions and weak medical infrastructure, congenital heart disease has become a severe threat to Afghan children. The Afghan Red Crescent Society estimates nearly 7,000 Afghan children with congenital heart disease are in urgent need of treatment. According to the requirements of the Afghan Red Crescent Society, the Red Cross Foundation of China launched a humanitarian program for Afghan children with severe problems under the Belt and Road Initiative in Afghanistan in 2017.
By the end of 2018, 100 Afghan children with congenital heart disease had been successfully treated, and the first phase of the humanitarian program had been completed.
Two nurses take care of an Afghan child at the airport on Friday. (Photo by Shi Jiamin/ People’s Daily)
On May 4, 2019, the Chinese Red Cross foreign aid medical team carried out week-long screenings for children with congenital heart disease in Kabul, Afghanistan, which marked the start of the second phase of the program. Based on the principle of “Priority Relief for the Most Urgent”, the team selected 150 children out of 245 registered in the Afghan Red Crescent Society to come to China in batches for free surgeries.
This is the second batch of Afghan children with congenital heart disease coming to China for treatment, while the first batch of 24 children have undergone successful operations and returned to their country on August 21.
(Compiled by Yu Lidong)
