More than 30 children and adolescents from seven countries, the West Bank and Gaza are being treated near Tel Aviv for serious heart disease. They are the largest group of patients brought to Israel in more than a year by a medical charity that claims to have saved thousands of lives in the past 25 years.
The children range from 6 months to 19 years old and come from Ethiopia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Kenya, Kosovo, Uganda and Zambia, as well as the Palestinian Authority and the Gaza Strip, a said Tamar Shapira, deputy executive director of Save a Child’s Heart.
“This is a large group of children from a wide variety of countries. We haven’t had a group like this since COVID started, ”she said on Tuesday. “They all speak different languages, are different colors, but they are all treated by the Save a Child’s Heart team,” she added.
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The patients, each who came with an attendant, have all been brought to Israel in recent weeks, where they have been quarantined under Ministry of Health guidelines before receiving treatment at the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital of Holon, who is part of the Wolfson Medical Center.
According to Shapira, they all need open heart surgery or a catheter to treat different life-threatening heart problems. They are expected to stay in Israel for a total of two to three months before they can return home.
“Israel was not just their only hope, but their last hope,” she said.
An ultrasound technician from Wolfson Medical Center in Israel examines a child’s heart at the Save a Child’s Heart clinic in Zanzibar on March 5, 2018 (Nati Shohat / FLASH9)
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On Monday, Wolfson director Anat Engel tweeted a photo of 27 of the patients and their attendants gathered, many holding flags of their home countries.
The group has treated more than 5,600 children from 62 countries since its inception in 1995, and has also screened and treated thousands more during overseas missions. In 2019, Save a Child’s Heart treated a record 383 children, mostly from Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zanzibar and the Palestinian Authority.
Beginning in 2020, pandemic-related restrictions limited international travel, and Israel imposed significant restrictions on entry into the country. The association still managed to treat 349 children – the vast majority of them were Palestinians from the West Bank or Gaza, 54 from Ethiopia and Tanzania and 41 from Romania.
Although Israel has opened up most areas of daily life, strict guidelines remain in place for visits and travel to the country, including the requirement for those who have not been vaccinated to self-quarantine and entry ban for visitors from certain countries deemed to be at high risk.
Travelers at Ben Gurion International Airport, June 21, 2021 (FLASH90)
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As of Tuesday, Israel has faced a potential return of the pandemic due to an increase in cases of the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Wearing a mask at the airport is once again compulsory, and a strengthening of the quarantine rules has been put in place, among other things.
Ms Shapira said Save a Child’s Heart had always followed government guidelines closely, even when the pandemic appeared to have been brought under control, and that she would continue to do so.
“We are optimistic that we can continue these activities,” she said. “We are very, very happy to be able to save these children, before they return home. “
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