Brum medics save tot's life

Apr 24 2008 By Tony Collins

A TEAM from Birmingham Children's Hospital has helped save the life of a four-year-old girl in Malaysia.

The eight-strong volunteer team of paediatric heart specialists is spending a week at the National Heart Institute, in Kuala Lumpur, to pass on techniques and help operate on local children.

The trip, paid for by the Children's HeartLink charity, which organises medical missions around the world, has already resulted in life-saving surgery for Siti Hasimah Mohamad.

Siti's heart defect is very complex and this is the first time such an operation has been carried out at the centre, known in Malaysia as Institut Jantung Negara.

The medical team from the UK and Kuala Lumpur, the Far East country's capital, took nearly eight hours to complete the operation.

Although Kiti remained in the intensive care unit in "stable" condition today, doctors said they were hopeful of a full recovery.

The Birmingham Children's Hospital team is led by paediatric cardiac surgeon David Barron, intensive care consultant Fiona Reynolds and cardiologist John Wright.

Dr Reynolds said before leaving: "This is a new venture for the children's hospital.

"The heart unit in Malaysia is bigger than us but they don't do the complex work that we do. We will be teaching some of the more complex types of surgery, while Dr Barron will be operating with the local surgeon."

A spokesman for Children's HeartLink said Siti lives with her mother and father and six brothers and sisters in a small village four hours east of Kuala Lumpur by car.

"Her father is a driver who earns 325 dollars a month, making medical care a huge financial hardship.

"With the help of Children's HeartLink, Siti received the life-saving treatment she needed."

The spokesman said the Birmingham team had identified several other children with complex heart defects to receive treatment during the week.

* Further information is available from www.childrens heartlink.org.