Sidra Medicine breaks boundaries, operates successfully on first international patient

During the last few years, most of Qatar’s domestic investments came in three sectors — sports, education and health.

Qatar boasts of some world class medical facilities, the latest being the recently-opened Sidra Medicine. The hospital has seen considerable success in a short while. Just a few weeks back, doctors at Sidra had successfully performed an open heart surgery on a three-year-old child.

And now, Sidra has successfully completed a heart operation on a 29-day-old toddler, who was flown in from Kuwait for an emergency surgery to correct a heart defect, reported Gulf Times.

Sidra Medicine treated its first international patient at the newly opened Heart Center last month, ushering in an era of reverse medical tourism for the institution

— Qatar News Agency (@QNAEnglish) August 14, 2018

Sidra Medicine that with the operation, it was ushering in an era of reverse medical tourism for the institution.

The defect had left the child’s heart unable to properly pump blood throughout her body. Born prematurely, the baby girl weighed just 1.3kg at the time of operation, which lasted for a total of two hours.

While the operation has been completed, the patient will need to return to the hospital several times for a series of additional procedures, reported The Peninsula.

Sidra Medicine Heart Center successfully operates on first international patient | Qatar is Booming https://t.co/IO0KbkVWfx via @qatarisbooming

— Suhaib Jamal Nasir (@suhaibnasir) August 15, 2018

The operation, which was led by Cardiac Surgery Division Chief Dr Olivier Ghez, was supported by a team of experts from Sidra Medicine.

“The entire Heart Center team feels incredibly grateful to have been entrusted with the care of our smallest patient to date. We’d like to thank the family and the Kuwait Oil Company for entrusting a precious life into our care,” said Prof Ziyad M Hijazi, chair of the Department of Paediatrics and director of the Heart Center.

“We’ve built an incredibly close and fruitful partnership with colleagues in Kuwait who’ve been instrumental in enabling Kuwaiti patients to access care at Sidra Medicine. We look forward to working closely together in the future,” he added.

Picture for representation only.