By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

A charity mission comprising doctors from the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) is expected to benefit underprivileged Sudanese children with congenital heart disease.
Led by Dr Ahmad Sallehuddin, a Malaysian doctor, the 15-man medical team will be leaving Doha on March 22 for the six-day mission at the Wad Madani Heart Disease and Surgery Centre in Wad Madani, 180km southeast of Khartoum, Sudan.
Dr Sallehuddin is the senior consultant paediatric cardiac surgeon and chief of the paediatric cardiac surgery department at the HMC.
Part of the team included senior consultant paediatric intensivist Dr Osama al-Gibali, senior consultant paediatric cardiac anesthesiologist Dr Syed Abdul Aziz Syed Zin, and Dr Magdi Tofeig, senior consultant paediatric interventional cardiologist.
“We are very grateful for our parent institution which allowed us to provide these children our expertise and capabilities,” Dr Sallehuddin told Gulf Times.
The doctor disclosed that last year, at least half of the 40 Sudanese children underwent surgery while others had medical interventions.
It is the third mission from the HMC sponsored by Eid bin Mohamed al-Thani Charity Association.
Aside from performing medical and surgical treatment, the team is also building its reputation and partnership with the Sudanese locals, in order for the latter to have confidence in sending patients to Doha.
“This is because they don’t have the capacity to do complex procedures,” Dr Sallehuddin said.
Malaysia’s Ambassador to Qatar Ahmad Jazri bin Mohd Johar invited members of the medical team to the embassy yesterday for a “send-off ceremony”.
He cited their “good work, noble intention, and their contribution to the underprivileged children of Sudan”.
“This is something which we need to recognise and appreciate, what this team and the Eid bin Mohamed al-Thani Charity Association have been doing,” the ambassador said.
The charity mission not only benefits the patients but the medical team as well, according to Dr al-Gibali.
He said the mission to Sudan provides doctors the exposure and an opportunity for more experience. “Both clinical and non-clinical components of the hospital gain from this experience.”
Sudanese health workers gain from the knowledge transfer too.
Dr Syed Zin remarked: “The transformation in these poor kids’ lives is just amazing, some of them are crying with joy and gratefulness after the surgery. It’s really a great mission.”