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• Strikes go on but

British team touches the hearts of the poor

By Ranee Mohamed

Poor women in poor clothing stood outside the special cardiac ward of the National Hospital. They were carrying crying children - all of them ailing with heart disease. Some had complicated valves, 

others had narrow arteries and 'holes' in the heart and the complications flowed on endlessly with the tears of the mothers, as they explained with a feeling of fear, helplessness  and anxiety what exactly was wrong with their child.

So many ailing hearts, so much heartache, it was unbelievable.

Five month old  Supun Dilan, the son of a farmer was operated and taken in to the cardiac intensive care unit. "I am a poor farmer. This is a dream come true" said Ananda Ratnayake standing next to his wife Chandani Menike, who was crying. "Being a farmer, I cannot afford cardiac treatment for my baby in this country, let alone treatment by doctors from a hospital in London. We would have lost our most precious possession if not for this team," said Ananda.

Samanthi was a lucky mother. She held her two and a half year old Siluni closely. "My daughter was operated on last year, when the team from Guys Hospital visited Sri Lanka. I have brought her here to find out whether all is well," she said happily. "My child was given a few months to live before the surgery was performed last year," said Samanthi from Ragama.

Young Kumudu was not so lucky. She was waiting in the crowded hallway trying to calm her one year old daughter Shiromi. "My baby has three problems with her heart. I am told that she has a hole in her heart and a narrowing artery that threatens to cut off the blood supply. I am praying that my baby gets well,I do not want to lose her for anything in the world," cried  this poor woman from Kandy who had been travelling since morning.

Nalani from Rajanganaya was worried. There were tears in her eyes as she carried her daughter who seemed fast asleep. The child's mouth was open. Little Sashikala Sevandi had a problem with her heart valve. "My daughter cannot breathe and she suffers from colds very often," explained Nalani looking at the door from time to time.

ECG room

Every parent in the waiting hall was waiting for the door to open, for when it did, it brought them closer to the Echo Cardiogram section. And this is where Anusha Chandani from Ayagama, Ratnapura stood. She too was holding her three and a half year old daughterTekla in a sleeping position. The child looked faint, tired and undernourished. "My baby gets blue suddenly. She is very ill," Anusha begins to cry.

Inside the ECG room is a team of doctors. Cardiolgosit Dr. John Simpson is examining the children- one by one, screening them and making a diagnosis. He seems tired. But he will not take a rest and the people outside are thankful for that. Among the team of Sri Lankan cardiologists is Dr. Nimali Fernando.

"A majority of these children have highly treatable, repairable type of heart conditions which can be repaired adequately with a low risk. There are some more complex conditions in which there will always be a much higher risk. But clearly the worst thing for any country to do is to try to do this type of care and  do it badly. That is the worst economic situation, because you spend a lot of money doing it and not getting the best results," said Dr. Simpson.

Dr. Simpson also emphasised that the priority for any country should be to treat children with repairable heart disease promptly and ensure a high success rate so that the children grow up to adult life and not be in hospital and on medication all the time.

The crying children woke the others who were asleep. The cries were due to pain-there was pain everywhere, but the most visible pain was in the hearts, minds and faces of the parents who stood waiting for the team to examine their children and perform cardiac surgery on them immediately. The team is expected to be in Sri Lanka for a week.

While minor employees were on strike, this cardiac intensive care unit was working overtime.

Sister Vidyapathige was almost in tears. "This is true dedication. We are dealing with lives," she said. The team headed by Consultant Cardiothoracic surgeon Conal Austin, Consultant paediatric  Cardiologist Dr. John Simpson, Anaesthetist Dr. Franco Moscuzzo, Consultant  paediatric intensive Care Specialist Dr. Andrew Derwood,  accredited paediatric perfusionist Jeff Fowler, operating department practitioner Simon Smith, operating theatre sister Tina Rintala and three very experienced paediatric care unit sisters, Claire Moscuzzo, Jane Stanhouse and Jennifer Gorman.

The Guys Paediatric Cardiac Surgical mission to Sri Lanka was brought about by Jai Lameer, a one time patient requiring myocardial revascularisation (heart bypass surgery).

"I met Consulstant Cardiothoracic Surgeon Conal Austin. He was keen to do charity work in Sri Lanka and I was determined to do this service to the poor in my motherland," said Jai Lameer.

Assisting Lameer in this humanitarian effort were Ananda  and Tess Thevathasan, and Harish Nilaweera. Standing beside these patients were Jayanthi Lameer who was also involved in this effort. "Cardiac surgery on these children were made possible also due to the efforts of the Asha Central Hospital in Colombo and the Standard Chartered Bank in London," pointed out Lameer. Staff of this bank had arranged various projects to help this cause, people with hearts have even stopped smoking to help these children.

Only two hospitals

The medical team is only served a cup of tea in the hospital. This is truly about serving the poor and the helpless.

"For the 20 million people in this country, there are only two hospitals performing heart surgery in the  state sector, that is in Colombo and in Karapitiya,Galle. We obviously cannot handle the workload. Children obviously need more attention than adults-surgery on children is more complex and they need more attention; and being a third world country, we do not have all the facilties. We need the equipment and the manpower. The doctors can be sent out to be trained, but there is a problem  when sending the nursing staff and the technical staff," said Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Chandima Amarasena.

Dr. Amarasena said this kind of service is admirable. "This is the second time for this team and they have been so kind to come back and handle some of the complex cases. This is good for the surgeons, anaesthetists, theatre nurses, perfusionists and the junior staff. This is like a transfer of technology," pointed out Dr. Amarasena.

Besides all this, this gesture by the British medical team is certainly good for the poor children of this country who have been suffering with neither a cure nor a hope.

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