Money donated towards the Operation Open Heart (OOH) program in PNG will focus on training, says Russell Lee, Project Coordinator, Operation Heart International.
He said in the past, any money donated was used to buy equipment to assist with the surgery.
In fact, OOH started in the country in 1993, and has since grown tremendously, says Lee.
“It’s exciting because we’re getting towards the time where the local team is doing closed heart surgeries on their own and will soon make a step towards making open heart surgery on their own,” he said.
He added that the idea now is to help PNG doctors and nurses to get additional training with the skills to do their job.
Bank South Pacific stepped in to assist the program this year, with K100 000.
A cheque was presented on Friday to the operation heart symposium, currently underway at the UPNG Medical School.
The symposium marks the end of the one week of the surgeries conducted by the OOH team from Australia.
Lee said 9 children were operated this week, which ended on Thursday, 15 February.
The children are all reported to be recovering well.
Lee said the children will be someone in the future, that’s why this operation is very important.
His team will return early next week and should come back to the country in July or August to continue their work.
In the meantime, Dr Noah and the local team will carry on a few surgeries on their own.