Successful heart operations performed in ongoing Nabadat surgeons visit

The team of local and international surgeons are performing about two open heart operations per day, with each operation lasting approximately two hours depending on the complexity.

The surgeons are also performing heart catheterization procedures, which involve passing a thin tube into the right or left side of the heart in order to analyze the heart's performance. This also helps in monitoring the functioning of the blood vessels in order to determine whether an operation is necessary - and if so, what type.

All the surgeries that have been performed so far by the medical team have been a major success, with the patients now in stable condition in the recovery stage.

Commenting on the initiative, His Excellency Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of the DHA, explained, "We launched Nabadat with the generous cooperation of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Foundation, so that we can alleviate the physical and financial burden of those suffering from congenital heart diseases. The patients who have been operated on can now look to the future with hope for a better life. The success of these operations demonstrates that Nabadat is making progress in its goal of sharing better health and hope, as well as positioning Dubai as a leader in the global healthcare domain."

The international medical team is comprised of surgeons from San Donato University Hospital in Milan, Italy, led by Professor Alessandro Vrigola. They are closely supported by a local team headed by Dr Obaid Al-Jasem, Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the DHA. The local team has proved their medical skills through the success rate achieved, in collaboration with their international counterparts.

Dr Obaid Al-Jasem, head of the local medical team, expressed his satisfaction with the results achieved so far, "So far the operations we performed have each been successfully completed. This is a remarkable feat, considering that some of the patients had critical conditions which necessitated extremely complex procedures. We are thankful that more lives have been saved and they can now lead normal lives."

Nabadat is an initiative launched by the DHA in order to treat children with congenital heart diseases, which affects 1% of all newborns worldwide. So far the patients who have benefited from the ongoing operations are from expatriate families living in the UAE as well as Emiratis.