Globalworth Foundation has joined the efforts of the Inima Copiilor (“Children’s Heart”) Association to develop paediatric cardiovascular surgery centres in three major Romanian cities: Bucharest, Iasi and Timisoara. This year, with the support of Globalworth Foundation, the humanitarian medical missions programme initiated at the Marie Curie Hospital in Bucharest will be extended to the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases centres in Iasi and Timisoara.
Through the investment of 300,000 euros over the next three years, Globalworth Foundation will fund medical missions allowing specialist international doctors to travel to Romania to operate on children with heart malformations and to train Romanian doctors in their first years of residency. Each medical mission will bring four foreign specialists to Romania who, together with their Romanian colleagues, will be able to perform operations on 15-20 children with heart disease.
“Through the dedication and perseverance of the Inima Copiilor Association, those born with congenital heart malformations benefit from much more adequate care today than there was the case six years ago. Over 1,000 children have had access to vital operations through the paediatric cardiovascular surgery development programme initiated by the association. The medical system in Romania faces a real dilemma, so Globalworth Foundation is adding its weight to the campaign to help increase life expectancy in children born with cardiovascular diseases,” comments Georgiana Iliescu, Executive Director of Globalworth Foundation.
The paediatric cardiovascular surgery development programme is carried out in a partnership with the Inima Copiilor Association, the Ministry of Health of Romania, the Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo Association and the San Donato Clinic in Milan. The programme, which began in 2013, includes monthly medical missions attended by experienced specialists from abroad, as well as training courses in Bucharest and Milan for Romanian doctors and assistants. Four foreign doctors – a cardiac surgeon, an interventional cardiologist and two specialists in anaesthesia and intensive care – take part in the medical missions which themselves present excellent practical training opportunities for colleagues in Bucharest, Iasi and Timisoara.
“If they are not operated on in time, children with heart disease either wait for years for an operation, years during which their health deteriorates, or we simply lose them. We need to have timely solutions for them in their own country! The only viable and sustainable ones involve training Romanian doctors to treat them and consolidating the centres in Romania. Over the last six years, we have managed to increase the number of children who are operated on in their own country and we count on a team of excellent specialists to help us to form a new and well-trained generation of Romanian practitioners. We dare to imagine a future in which all children with heart disease will have access to the treatment they need and, with the support of Globalworth Foundation, this future is beginning to take shape,” added Alexandru Popa, President of the Inima Copiilor Association.
From 24-26 February, Globalworth Foundation is organising a fundraising campaign for the Inima Copiilor Association in the centre of the largest business community in Romania: the smart lobby of Globalworth Tower (Barbu Vacarescu Street, No. 201, Bucharest). The campaign will be extended to other Globalworth buildings by installing charity shops. Thus, Globalworth’s 35,000 tenants will be able to contribute with a donation in cash, on an app especially created or online at the webpage of the campaign.