Wolfson cardiac surgeons save lives of more Gazan children

Two-week-old Gazan baby girl, named Fajar, undergoes successful open-heart surgery at Holon hospital.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Doctors perform surgery [illustrative]. (photo credit: REUTERS)
Doctors perform surgery [illustrative].
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Just a week after Hamas terrorists stopped hurling rockets at Israel, a two-week-old Gazan baby girl named Fajar underwent successful open-heart surgery on Tuesday at Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center as part of the voluntary Save a Child's Heart (SACH) organization, the lifesaving help to Gazan children continued through Operation Protective Edge.
She arrived in Holon during the war, on August 23, accompanied by her father. She is the youngest of three daughters. Her two-year-old sister, Zachra, was treated at the Wolfson last year for a different congenital heart condition. Zachra is due back at the hospital next week for reevaluation for a second surgery. The father, who has a degree in business management, is an officer in the Palestinian Authority, while her mother is a high school graduate. Fajar’s heart surgery was performed by Dr. Lior Sasson and his team, together with Palestinian Dr. Addas and Ethiopian Dr. Mekonnen, both doctors taking part in the SACH training program.
Fajar was brought to the pediatric intensive care unit after her surgery, and was put in bed near two-week-old Rumaisa, a Palestinian baby who was brought by SACH to Wolfson at the age of nine days. Rumaisa was an urgent case,  brought during the fighting in a Red Cross ambulance. Her condition was so serious upon arrival that the doctors needed a few days just to stabilize her. Now, after the surgery, Wolfson pediatric cardiologists are pleased with her recovery.
On Tuesday, five other families from Gaza and one from the West Bank arrived at SACH’s weekly cardiology clinic. Another child from Gaza arrived later in the evening.
Thirty SACH children from the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Iraq, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zanzibar and Romania are currently at Wolfson, along with 12 doctors and nurses from the PA, Ethiopia, Tanzania and Romania who are taking part in the SACH training program.