Mohamed Ameen Dabhelia – 2016/03/15
A 29-day-old Yemeni baby is expected to make a full recovery after he was saved by a South African-led rescue mission.
Yazan Yousif Qade who suffers from a life-threatening congenital coarctation of the aorta, which is the narrowing of the large blood vessel branching from the heart was in dire need of heart surgery.
But the current civil war in the Yemen meant the mission would be high risk.
The team crossed the airspace of 10 countries into war-torn Yemen to save the life of Yazan in what has been described as a miracle mission.
Medair chief executive, Bruce Johnstone says that when they heard it was a twenty-nine day old baby who needed urgent medical surgery; their task was made much easier.
“The South African medics, with the help of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, medical aviation partner Medair and Netcare 911, flew into a war zone to fly the Yazan out for the procedure.”
After travelling through Addis Ababa, Saudi Arabia and into Yemen, the baby was flown to Lanseria Airport for an operation at Sunninghill hospital.
The procedure – performed by cardio-thoracic surgeons Dr Hendrik Mamorare, Dr Izak de Villiers Jonker and paediatric cardiologist Dr Raymond Dansky – was a success.
Yazan, who returned home this week, recovered well in the paediatric cardio-thoracic unit at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital under the care of paediatric intensivist Dr Saskia Coetzee.
Johnstone says the teamwork between Aims, Medair, the South African Department of International Relations and Co-operation, Yemen embassy, Netcare Sunninghill Hospital and Netcare 911 was “nothing short of inspirational”.
“It is heart-warming that we were all able to work together under the most difficult of circumstances to save the life of a little human being from a faraway, war-ravaged country.”
Grindell further praised the Medair and Netcare 911 teams who transported the infant safely to South Africa.
(Edited by Faizel Patel)
0 Comments