Wolfson cardiac surgeons save life of Gazan infant

Rumaisa was an urgent case, brought during the fighting in Red Cross ambulance; condition was so serious doctors needed a few days just to stabilize her.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Ambulance in Gaza (photo credit: REUTERS)
Ambulance in Gaza
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Less than two weeks after Hamas terrorists stopped shooting rockets at Israel, a two-week-old Gazan baby girl named Fajar underwent successful open-heart surgery at Holon's Wolfson Medical Center as part of the Save a Child's Heart (SACH) project.
The lifesaving help to Gazan children continued through Operation Protective Edge.
She arrived in Holon during the war, on August 23, accompanied by her father. She is the youngest of three daughters.
Her two-year-old sister, Zachra, was treated at Wolfson last year for a different congenital heart condition. Zachra is due back at the hospital next week for reevaluation for a second surgery.
The father, who has a degree in business management, is an officer in the Palestinian Authority, while her mother is a high school graduate.
Fajar's heart surgery was performed on Tuesday by Dr. Lior Sasson and his team, together with Palestinian Dr. Addas and Ethiopian Dr. Mekonnen, both doctors taking part in a SACH training program.
Fajar was brought to the pediatric intensive care unit after her surgery and was put in bed near two-week-old Rumaisa, a Palestinian baby who was brought by SACH to Wolfson at the age of nine days.
Rumaisa was an urgent case, brought during the fighting in a Red Cross ambulance. Her condition was so serious upon arrival that the doctors needed a few days just to stabilize her. Now, after the surgery, Wolfson pediatric cardiologists are pleased with her recovery.
On Tuesday, five other families from Gaza and one from the West Bank arrived at SACH's weekly cardiology clinic. Another child from Gaza arrived later in the evening.
Thirty SACH children from the PA, Syria, Iraq, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Romania are at Wolfson, along with 12 doctors and nurses from the PA, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Romania who are taking part in the training program.