Qatar Charity medical team treats 28 children at Korle Bu

A four-member pediatric cardiac team from Qatar Charity recently completed a four-day medical mission at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana. Working alongside specialists from the National Cardiothoracic Centre (NCTC), the visiting team performed life-saving, minimally invasive cardiac catheterization procedures on 28 children suffering from congenital heart defects.

The patients treated ranged in age from five-month-old infants to a 23-year-old medical student. The interventions focused on repairing abnormal connections between heart chambers, often referred to as “hole-in-heart” conditions, and performing balloon dilations to treat narrowed valves and blood vessels.

This mission marks the Qatar Charity team’s fifth visit to Ghana and their first hosted directly at Korle Bu. The procedures utilized the NCTC’s newly commissioned bi-plane cardiac catheterization laboratory, which allows for reduced surgical risk and faster recovery times compared to traditional open-heart surgery.