A medical delegation sent by Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) to Bangladesh has performed 26 cardiac catheterisations over the past two days, taking the total number of operations performed since the beginning of the project to 47.
The procedures included patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) closure, stenting, balloon valvuloplasty, heart arrhythmia treatment and cardiac cauterisation, QRCS said in a statement yesterday.
QRCS has been co-ordinating with the Military Hospital to host the second phase of the project, which will cover some 40 patients.
Capacity-building is one of the main objectives of the programme, which ensures that local medics and technicians at the host hospitals are actively engaged in the procedures, according to QRCS. This way, they get firsthand experience of how things go inside the operating room, what steps the procedure consists of and how to deal with special or emergency cases.
In addition, the medical staff will have an opportunity to practise and correct themselves under the supervision of expert doctors. Post-procedure care is also taken into consideration.
One of the rare cases faced by the doctors yesterday was that of Miem (6), who had a complex aortopulmonary window. Fixing it required a trans-aortic patch closure technique. The one-hour procedure was performed successfully by Dr Mohamed T Noaman, paediatric cardiac consultant at St Joseph Medical Centre, Houston, Texas (US).
Another patient was Jiana (4), who too had small PDA to close using a plug, said Abdullah Ashkanani, senior catheterisation technician, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). “Instead, the hole was occluded using a soft interlocking detachable coil. Her health condition is stable now. It was not the first such case,” he explained.
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