Five Little Angels from Mongolia Receive New Life in Korea
Five Little Angels from Mongolia Receive New Life in Korea
At a small town called ‘Bayan Onjuul,’ 150 km away from the capital city of Ulan Bator, a little boy named Iredui (11 months old) was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease (Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) just one month after his birth. He needed to go through a surgery yet the medical technology in Mongolia was not advanced enough to conduct such sophisticated operation. Being a shepherd, his father struggled to feed his family with his modest income, and an expensive medical expense was beyond what he could afford.
And yet a life-saving message of hope was delivered to the family. Seoul National University Hospital Public Health Medical Service (President: Hee-Jung Kim) and Korea Heart Foundation (President: Bum-Koo Cho) decided to give free operations to five Mongolian children suffering from congenital heart malformation.
After arriving at the Incheon International Airport on 3 September, the children were admitted to Seoul National University Children’s Hospital. The heart surgery was performed by Professor Woong-Han Kim at the Department of Pediatric Thoracic/Cardiovascular Surgery.
Professor Kim in the past had also invited 23 and 25 Mongolian children to Korea in 2011 and 2013 respectively and successfully performed operations for them.
Seoul National University Hospital’s advanced medical technology is widely recognized in Mongolia, and approximately 2,000 children with heart disease are waiting for help.
Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), which Iredui was suffering from, is a congenital heart disease and patients are found to have a hole in the ventricular septum, the wall dividing the left and right ventricles of the heart. Blood flows through the hole and if the disease develops too severely, it may even put the patient’s life at risk.
It was at 5:00 pm on 5 September when Iredui headed to the operation room. After fully reassuring the child’s parents, who had stayed nervous all night long, Professor Kim finally started to perform the operation.
Professor Kim and his team opened up the child’s chest after putting him under general anesthesia and sutured the hole between the left and right ventricles. The five-hour operation ended successfully. In the operating room, a defect between the left ventricle and right ventricle was closed perfectly. After operation, the pulmonary hypertension was improved slowly during stay in intensive care unit and ward. Iredui’s breathing was improved after operation.
Altogether five children from Mongolia, including Iredui, received operation from the medical team led by Professor Kim. After recovering from the operation, five little angels from Mongolia flew back to their hometown on 24 September with a fully recovered body.
Professor Woong-Han Kim at the Department of Pediatric Thoracic/Cardiovascular Surgery said, “My heart was deeply saddened to see those sweet little children helplessly suffering from the disease due to poor medical condition and economic difficulty. I did my best for the children’s operation so that these kids can recover their health and grow up as a thriving and healthy adult.”
President Bum-Koo Cho at Korea Heart Foundation stressed that “Just three decades ago, Korea used to be a country that received donation from foreign countries. However, these days, Korean doctors are saving many lives overseas with their outstanding expertise. Our foundation is pushing out its best effort to save as many lives as possible by providing financial assistance to foreign patients while inviting overseas medical teams to our pediatric cardiovascular surgery training programs.”