Somaliland President Abdi Rahman Muhammad Abdullahi visited an Israeli heart center that has provided life-saving treatment to dozens of Somaliland children.

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Founded at the Wolfson Medical Center in 1995, Save a Child’s Heart has saved the lives of more than 7,000 children from 70 countries and has brought over 150 local healthcare professionals to Israel for training.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

A delegation of Israeli medical personnel in Zambia is in the middle of a marathon series of life-saving operations on 25 children with congenital heart defects.

“We are delighted to welcome an international team to the National Heart Hospital. The exchange of knowledge and expertise is invaluable, and we sincerely thank Save a Child’s Heart Israel for their commitment to training both our team and the visiting professionals,” said Dr. Chabwela Shumba, Senior Medical Superintendent at Zambia’s National Heart Hospital in Lusaka.

The mission, organized by Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli humanitarian organization, also brought experts from neighboring Tanzania for the open heart surgeries and catheterizations taking place from Dec. 16-20.

Leading the cardiologists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, ICU specialists, technicians, and nurses are performing open-heart surgeries and catheterization procedures.

Leading the effort are Dr. Godwin Godfrey Sharau of Tanzania, Dr. Mudaniso Kumani Ziwa of Zambia, both trained by Save a Child’s Heart in Israel, and Dr. Lior Sasson, Director of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Israel’s Wolfson Medical Center.

“Too many children in Africa suffer and die from treatable heart conditions. This mission brings hope by enabling us to save lives and share knowledge, ensuring that children in Zambia receive care closer to home. Our Tanzanian team from JKCI are proud to be part of this important mission and share the knowledge and skills gained over our own 10+ year journey in pediatric cardiac care,” Sharau said.

In addition to the open-heart surgeries, a specialized team will visit Zambia to perform catheterizations. These advanced procedures allow for the repair of heart defects in children without the need for open-heart surgery.

“It is incredibly rewarding to see the doctors we trained in Israel now leading life-saving missions and building sustainable cardiac care programs in their home countries,” said Sasson, who has been training African doctors for 15 years.

“The specialized training they received at Wolfson Medical Center has empowered them to perform complex heart surgeries and train others, creating a ripple effect that extends far beyond Israel. Witnessing the successful collaboration of these skilled professionals, who were once our trainees and are now leaders in global pediatric cardiac care, fills me with pride and hope for the future of children with heart disease around the world,” he said.

Founded at the Wolfson Medical Center in 1995, Save a Child’s Heart has saved the lives of more than 7,000 children from 70 countries and has brought over 150 local healthcare professionals to Israel for training.

Since 2017, the organization has worked closely with Zambia’s Ministry of Health to strengthen pediatric cardiac care in the African country. This partnership has led to the treatment of over 100 Zambian children and the training of numerous medical professionals.

“This mission represents the best of international cooperation and humanitarian commitment. Israel’s dedication to training medical professionals and sharing life-saving expertise underscores our deep belief in the power of partnerships to create a healthier, more compassionate world. We are proud to see this collaboration bring hope and healing to children and families in Zambia and beyond,” said Israeli Ambassador to Zambia Ofra Farhi.

Dr. Chabwela Shumba, Senior Medical Superintendent at the National Heart Hospital praised the international collaboration. “The exchange of knowledge and expertise is invaluable, and we sincerely thank Save a Child’s Heart for their commitment to training and equipping our team. This partnership is instrumental in building Zambia’s capacity to deliver world-class cardiac care and establish our center as a focal point in Sub-Saharan Africa.”

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Although Save a Child’s Heart operates on children from around the world, half of its patients are Palestinians.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

An Israeli organization that performs life-saving surgery by repairing children’s hearts for free has just operated on its 6,000th patient, 11-year-old Mazen from the Gaza Strip.

Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) has been working in Israel for the last 25 years, treating Israeli children but also from around the world whose home countries either do not have the necessary cardiac facilities or specialists who can fix their medical conditions. Fully half of their patient pool comes from the Palestinian Authority in Judea and Samaria, which has relations with Israel, and from the Gaza Strip, which does not.

Mazen was born with a complex heart condition that eventually did not allow him to breathe properly. His doctors, who work extensively with SACH, arranged for his emergency passage to the organization’s International Pediatric Cardiac Care Center at the new Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.

The Interventional Pediatric Cardiac Care Unit, headed by Dr. Sagi Assa, used a ground-breaking technique to close a hole in Mazen’s heart without needing to perform open heart surgery, which by its very nature is a very serious operation with a long recovery period. The two related Holon medical centers are the only ones in the Middle East using this technique for such medical cases.

In addition to its surgical arm, SACH has run a weekly clinic for the last two decades at Wolfson specifically for Palestinians. Over this time its doctors have cared for thousands of children, and the organization believes that its work has an impact beyond improving the physical health of its patients. As SACH’s website notes, the clinic “is not just about mending hearts but building bridges.”

“After so many years of conflict, of course people get frightened,” Palestinian clinic coordinator Fatma Sarsour notes there. “They don’t know the other side. So they get here, they see how much Save a Child’s Heart cares about them and they get the help they need and the fear disappears. At the end of the day they see we are all people and all human beings.”

SACH has saved the lives of children from 63 countries, and among them there are others that do not have diplomatic ties with Israel, such as Iraq. One that now does, as of last year, is eager to establish a relationship with the humanitarian group. Last week, barely three months after arriving in the country, Bahrain’s first ambassador to Israel, Khaled Yusuf Al Jalahma, visited SACH’s children’s home in Holon where the young patients recover with the help of their mothers.

He met with Sylvan Adams, who funded the recent building of the group’s state-of-the-art hospital, and discussed how his country’s children could be brought to Israel to take advantage of the SACH doctors’ expertise and thereby save their lives.

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