Dr Noah Tapaua

The patients, all adults, include five females and four males from all over Papua New Guinea.

The patients traveled from as far as Wewak, Goroka, Mt Hagen, Lae, Chimbu and Moresby.

The one week operation involved local staff assisted by 10 medical staff from the National Heart Centre Singapore.

The cost for the surgeries has been fully paid by the OOH through its fundraising events and the responsibility of provincial hospitals to send the patient and guardian to Moresby for the operation.

PMGH cardiothoracic surgeon and surgery coordinator, Dr Noah Tapaua says these patients had been screened and are ready for heart operations.

“The PMGH heart specialist team will be assisted by the Open Heart International team of Australian doctors,” Dr Tapaua says.

“The team visits PNG twice annually to perform operations mainly on children who have heart problems. Their two visits will be in February and August.

The heart surgery commenced on Sunday and ended on a high note today at the Port Moresby General Hospital carried out by the Open Heart International (OHI) Australia and local staff.

The 10 children came from Goroka, Mt Hagen, Alotau, Lae and Moresby.

Local cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Noah Tapaua was pleased with the outcome of the six days operation.

Dr Tapaua said the patients are recovering well and have responded well to the treatment following surgery.

He was grateful for the help of the Australia team as they really helped to train the local staff.