Last Child to Undergo Lifesaving Heart Procedure by Save a Child's Heart, as the Israeli Based International Organization Teams Up with Wolfson Medical Center in the Fight Against COVID-19

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Apr 03, 2020, 08:38 ET

HOLON, Israel, April 3, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- As Save a Child's Heart's (SACH) finished heart surgery on its last child until the pandemic ends, SACH announced today that it is teaming up with Wolfson Medical Center (WMC), a hospital serving 500,000 people in central Israel, to make space for patients and raise money for essential medical supplies needed for the hospital's fight against COVID-19.

SACH doctor prepares to treat Corona patient

2-year-old Daniel was brought by SACH from Ethiopia to Israel two months ago for lifesaving heart surgery. He underwent successful heart surgery today, and will now be recovering at the SACH children's home alongside a group of children from Zanzibar, Ethiopia, Iraq, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority.

WMC in Holon is on the front line of the battle against novel coronavirus in Israel, but there is not enough space within WMC to hospitalize all the COVID-19 patients who need treatment.

To help meet this crisis, SACH has been called upon to speed up construction of its new Children's Hospital – originally due to open in October – to mid-April. SACH will dedicate the new hospital to housing pediatric patients from WMC to free up beds there for COVID-19 patients.

"As the world continues to face these unprecedented times, it's our mission as a global organization to help fight COVID-19 to save lives. SACH built this new Children's Hospital to enable us to treat more children and train more doctors from developing countries. That mission is on hold during this crisis, but we can save Israeli patients who will have nowhere to go if we don't get this done," said Dr Lior Sasson, SACH Lead Surgeon.

About Save a Child's Heart

Save a Child's Heart (SACH) is an Israeli-based international non-profit organization that has provided care to more than 5,400 children from 62 countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and South America and trained more than 120 medical professionals from these countries. SACH was granted special consultative status by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (ECOSOC) and was the 2018 recipient of the prestigious United Nations Population Award.

Save a Child's Heart was founded in 1995 at the Wolfson Medical Center to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children in developing countries and create centers of competence in these countries. Save a Child's Heart is committed to the health and welfare of all children, regardless of the child's nationality, religion, color, gender or financial situation.

Media Contact:
David Litwack
301-785-0720
[email protected]

SOURCE Save a Child's Heart Foundation