Open Heart Operation

The team of local doctors (surgeons, physicians and anesthetists) and nurses conducted open heart surgeries on nine patients with less assistance from the usual visiting Singapore team.

They have undergone training at the National Heart Centre Singapore over the years and have been assisted by the Singapore team but are now more self-sufficient and independent.

Those trained in Singapore through Operation Open Heart (OOH) include two cardiologists, one cardiac surgeon, two prefusionist, six nurses and one echo technician with more expected in the future.

Little Dalilah flew into Port Moresby on January 21 from Mt Hagen where she lives with her mother Agnes.

She is the last born in a family of five and comes from a mix parentage of Eastern and Western Highlands Province.

Dalilah was born with two holes in her heart, scientifically explained as congenital heart defects, namely ventricular septal defect (VSD) and atrial septal defect (ASD).

That is, there are holes in the septums between both the two ventricles and the two atriums.