By Quintina Naime in Port Moresby
Ten children between the ages of three to seven years old have successfully undergone an Operation Open Heart (OOP) programme in Papua New Guinea this week.
The heart surgery started 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 were 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.
A total of 15 local staff and 19 OHI staff were involved in the operation.
This open heart operation is the first of four operations under the OHI program.
The second operation will be carried out on adults in June by the OHI Singapore team.
The Australia team will be back in July to do surgery on children and the final part of the programme will take place in August by the Singaporean team.
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