Three Rivers sending 16 heart patients to India

Sixteen persons suffering from congenital heart disease will be travelling from Guyana to India next Friday for treatment.

According to a press release from the Three Rivers Kids Foundation all the patients will be undergoing open heart surgery at the Max Heart and Vascular Centre in Saket, Delhi.

The group will spend two nights in Toronto on their way to India, the release said.

The entire mission was arranged by the Canada-based charity dedicated to helping sick Guyanese children.

“This is the largest single group that the organisation would have taken at any one time,” Jeanette Singh, president of the foundation said.

A registered nurse, Singh said it took many months of hard work to obtain passports, Indian and Canadian visas, make flight and accommodation arrangements and book operating room time.

The cardiac team comprises Dr KS Dagar, cardiac surgeon and Dr Viresh Mahajan, paediatric cardiologist. Dr Mahajan conducted a free cardiac clinic in Guyana in October, which was arranged by the foundation. Since its establishment the foundation has saved the lives of 63 children and young adults.

Most recently six-year-old Nicholas Dudnauth and 10-month-old Kenneth Prince received emergency treatment at the Max Hospital. Both children returned to Guyana in November in good health.