Pakistani children benefit from China-aided heart surgery project

A team from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences Fuwai Hospital has carried out successful surgeries on eight Pakistani children with congenital heart disease. The emergency project, which was completed with the cooperation of local medical staff, took place between Jan 22 and 23.

Prior to his visit to China, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari asked his daughter Aseefa Bhutto Zardari to visit the patients along with Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong and meet with the medical team from Fuwai Hospital. Ms Zardari spoke highly of China’s assistance and thanked the team for introducing advanced surgical procedures to Pakistan.

Ms Zardari said she was deeply touched by the Chinese doctors’ efforts in alleviating the suffering of the patients and selflessly providing training to Pakistani peers, and was proud of the iron-clad friendship that existed between Pakistan and China. She said she believed that bilateral cooperation will bring greater benefits to the Pakistani people and push the Pakistan-China all-weather strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level.

The patients and their parents expressed sincere appreciation for the hard work of the Chinese doctors. The Pakistani medical staff thanked the Chinese experts for their detailed guidance and onsite teaching, and said they looked forward to more support from China to help Pakistan improve its medical technology.

The project, the first technical cooperation between China and Pakistan in congenital heart disease treatment, is a new "small-yet-smart" livelihoods project China has implemented in Pakistan. It took only one month from the signing of the project exchange of notes to the completion of the surgeries.