Regional Pediatric Heart Examination and Surgery

The treatment of severe heart defects through surgery is still not possible in Kyrgyzstan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Afghanistan and other regional countries as knowledge and capacities are not available. Mongolia is one of the few countries which has experience and a positive record of surgeries for more than 60 years.

Congenital heart defects, or diseases (CHD) are problems connected with the heart’s structure that are present at birth. Doctors in developing countries often do not know why congenital heart defects occur. Globally, 8 in 1000 children are born with heart defects while in countries like Mongolia the normal number is increasing to 1 in 100 children, according to the Health Indicators Data of 2021.

Since years, the governments, hospitals and civil society organisations of Kyrgyzstan, DPRK, Afghanistan and other regional countries requested the Mongolian pediatric surgical team of Mongolia to carry out open heart surgeries for the children with CHD. There are very long waiting lists of children with CHD in the target countries, e.g., according to former head of UNFPA Afghanistan, only in Afghanistan there are more than 8’000 children in the waiting list.

Children and families with congenital heart defects from DPRK, Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan and Mongolia

Pediatric cardiologists of Kyrgyzstan, DPRK, Mongolia and Afghanistan

1. Children with CHD diagnosed in Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, DPRK and Mongolia (for Mongolia: in remote areas)
2. Urgent open-heart surgeries for children with CHD from target countries are carried out in Mongolia
3. Capacity building of health workers strengthened and funds for and awareness on CHD raised in Mongolia (in particular in the rural areas) and in target countries

Principaux résultats attendus:  

• Strengthening longstanding partnership with Kyrgyzstan and recently established partnership with Afghanistan and re-establish partnership with DPRK
• Heart Examinations: 10 missions of heart examinations to do pre-selection for open heart surgeries for children with congenital heart defects in DPRK, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Afghanistan (10 missions) and joint surgeries are carried out by a specialized team of pediatric heart surgeons
• Open Heart Surgeries: 252 open heart surgeries for children with congenital heart defects from DPRK (20 children), Afghanistan (20 children) Kyrgyzstan (12 children) and Mongolia (200 children) are conducted in Mongolia
• Capacity building of cardiologists: capacity of pediatric heart surgeons and nurses of Mongolia, DPRK, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan are strengthened
• Exploring eventual partnership with Swiss training hospital / cardiologists / children’s hospitals / international NGO with medical mother and child care mission

Principaux résultats antérieurs:  

Within the framework of the SDC supported ‘Regional Pediatric Heart Examination and Surgery’ Phase 1 (Oct 2023 - May 2024; CHF 150’000), Bundan NGO examined more than 1200 children with CHD (over 50 Afghan, 110 Kyrgyz, 1000 Mongolian children and adults) and successfully carried out life-saving open heart surgeries for 53 children (2 Afghan, 11 Kyrgyz, 7 Mongolian).

With SDC Small Action support during 2022 - 2023 of CHF 40’000 total, Bundan NGO travelled to 14 most remote provinces of Mongolia and carried out heart examinations of over 1500 children and adults, in total over 3000 examinations. 277 children underwent successful heart surgeries.

• “Zurkh Martakhgui – Heart Never Forgets” NGO and its Project
• UB Songdo Hospital, Mongolia
• Medical Science University, Mongolia
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mongolia
• Ministry of Health of Mongolia
• Mongolian Health insurance
• Embassies of Kyrgyzstan and DPRK in Mongolia
• Agha Khan Hospital in Kabul (potential)
• Ministry of Health Afghanistan
• Kim il Sun Kim Jong Ilm Foundation of DPRK (the main/biggest Foundation of DPRK)
• Mongolian Embassy in Geneva
• Swiss children’s hospital specialised in cardiac surgeries (to be explored further)
• Embassy of Afghanistan in Kazakhstan
• International NGO with mission for woman and child care (to be explored)