The paediatric cardiac surgery programme at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) is offering hope to hundreds of babies born with congenital heart disease and has already marked 100 successful surgeries between January and March of this year.
Data from the programme revealed that more than 500 babies are born with the defect in the UAE each year, nearly 70 of whom require heart surgery.
According to the programme’s chief Dr Laszlo Kiraly, the chances of newborns with the heart condition surviving past 18 years previously fell below 20 per cent. The success of paediatric cardiac surgery has meant newborns now have an 80 per cent chance of living past 20 years old.
“There is great public demand for this service, as parents may not be able to take their newborn baby overseas for treatment, which is predominantly surgical and can be prohibitively expensive. SKMC has the only service that is a dedicated 24/7 comprehensive programme for paediatric heart disease,” said Dr Kiraly.
Since its inception in 2007, the programme has treated between 300 and 330 cases per year.
“We have been nominated by SEHA as ‘a centre of excellence’ that has gained the support and confidence of the community, with a third of our patients being UAE nationals,” said Dr Kiraly.
