QRCS implements phase four of Little Hearts project in Afghanistan

Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), under its medical convoy programme, is carrying out phase four of the 'Little Hearts' project in Afghanistan, in partnership with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and Afghanistan’s ministry of public health.The volunteering medical team from Sidra Medicine has so far performed diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac catheterisations for 93 boys and girls with congenital heart defects, out of 169 target patients in total, a QRCS statement said.Headed by Dr Mohamed Salah Ibrahim, director of Relief and International Programmes Division at QRCS, the delegation comprises Sidra Medicine's paediatric cardiac catheterisation consultant and cardiology department head Dr Hesham al-Saloos and senior cardiac catheterisation technician Aladdin Ali Mohamed.The team of QRCS’ representation office in Afghanistan is supervising all administrative and logistical procedures of the project, which has a total budget of $416,616.Currently, there are no public centres to perform cardiac catheterisations, which are all performed at private-sector hospitals and centres. Afghanistan remains one of the most crisis-affected countries.According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, it is one of the longest-lasting humanitarian emergency zones in the world, due to prolonged armed conflicts and recurring natural disasters, which caused severe damage to infrastructure, the statement added.