With the assistance of the Jiangzi County Health Commission, more than 2000Tibetan compatriots underwent initial screening for congenital heart disease. After a thorough examination by Tongji University’sShanghai East Hospital Heart Medical Charity Team, eight patients identified as having congenital heart disease met the criteria for surgery andweretransported to Shanghai East Hospital in mid-July. As of July 30, this group of eight patients that includedtwo infants, fourjuveniles and two young adults, survived successful heart operations.
Danzenglangda (Dan) is 7 years old. He is the eldest of the three boys in his family. They live near the Karuola Glacier at an altitude of 4,700 meters. Dan’s family has 14 acres of land and they usually grow highland barley.Each year, they harvest only 10 bags of highland barley which is one year’s ration for his family. Congenital heart surgery is not available in Tibet, and the cost of surgery is very expensive. After the medical team checked him locally and confirmed that he met the surgical criteria, Dan and his father started their journey to Shanghai. On July 23, Dan had his surgery. Undergeneral anesthesia and with a cardiopulmonary bypass, the hospital director LIU Zhongmin and the hospital Cardiac SurgicalTeam performed a subaortic septum resection, aortic valvuloplasty, and arterial catheter ligation. The surgery was very successful. Dan was returned to the General Ward and sent home after a few days of his initial recovery.
In the cardiac surgeon’smoments,FENG Xiaodong’srecorded the process of each batch of charity heart patients arriving to the hospital for treatment. "After three days of hard work by the team, the surgeriesonthe six children from Jiangzi have been successfully completed, and it has come to a temporary end. The two remaining girls in their 20s have complex and rare conditions, so we willtry hard again next week", said FENG. "The 23-year-old Tibetan girl hadan atrial septal defect, low pulmonary dynamic pressure, normal tricuspid valve function, and a normal pulmonary valve, but a large number of right-to-left shunts with atrial septal defect! After a thorough examination and a clear diagnosis, we found that she had congenital heart disease, poor right heart development, an atrial septal defect, and an atrial level shunt right to left. After careful preparations, the off-pump heart was treated with a beating and one-half ventricle. The surgery went well".
In order to enable the patients to return home together, the medical team held a special coordination meeting,as the doctors were determined to completeallsurgeries within a few days. The implementation of the plan was not easy. Conducting two operations in one day, cardiologists often stood for nearly 10 hours without a break. In order to follow closely the situation of the first child, FENG Xiaodong, who had performed several operations, hurried to the Intensive Care Unit immediately after steppingawayfrom the operating table. He stayed with the child day and night and gave up his rest to bein the hospital for rounds on weekends. The supporting volunteers boiled chicken soup and made wontons, brought them to the patient’s bedside, and explained the precautions for postoperative rehabilitation to the patient’s family.
Hospital volunteers sent gifts to the eight patients and their families who were far away from their home. These gifts were from the proceeds from the charity sale by all the nursing staff on the May 12 - International Nurses’ Day this year. The schoolbags, hats, and colored pencils expressed the expectations of doctors and nurses for the children. At the same time, the volunteers also sent the children the "Illustrated Popular Science Seriesof Disaster Escape and Self-help" which wereedited by Dean LIU Zhongmin. These hardcover picture books were designed especially for children's first aid learning and aim to strengthen the children's ability to survive disasters.
In 2016, the Pudong New Area and Jiangzi County, Keze City, Tibet Autonomous Region established a counterpart assistance relationship. In July 2017, a party and government delegation from the Pudong New Area arrived in Jiangzi County to show condolences to the Tibetan cadres and inspect the construction aid projects. During an inspection tour to Tibet with the leaders of the Pudong New Area,Director LIU Zhongmin of the East Hospital discussed the idea of carrying out a congenital heart disease health poverty alleviation project with WANG Gaoan, a cadre of aid to Tibet and Deputy Secretary of the Jiangzi County Party Committee. They reached a consensus. Once back to Shanghai, LIU Zhongmin arranged for the Social Work Department of the hospital to connectwith the Tibetan cadres onthe details. With the joint efforts of Shanghai and Tibet, which spans 5,000 kilometers, the “green channel” to rescue patients with congenital heart disease in Jiangzi County kicked off. Charity treatment of children with congenital heart disease has become one of the eighth batch of Jiangzi's key livelihood projects to aid Tibet. On May 22, 2019, "Shanghai East Hospital for Jiangzi County Congenital Heart Disease Screening Center" was listed in the People's Hospital in Jiangzi County. In the past three years, the free treatment program for children with congenital heart disease has completed the screeningof more than 5,000 people. Among them, 20 patients who met the criteria for and were willing to undergo surgery came to the Shanghai East Hospital for treatment. During this year's Dragon Boat Festival, the East Hospital's Heart Medical Charity Team entered Tibet to carry out screenings and return visits for the congenital heart disease patients.
Source：https://en.tongji.edu.cn/info/1009/4316.htm
