MEAK: Heart trip pending ….

Final preparations are being undertaken for a small group from the MEAK heart team to visit the Kenyan Coast to review some of the many children with congenital heart disease in the area. The MEAK heart team finally have the go ahead to travel to Mombasa now that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office have revised their travel ban.

For many years MEAK has provided a service to these children, working together with the Paediatric Support Group (PSG) in Mombasa and local paediatricians in Mombasa and Kilifi.

The aim of this trip will be to work with the local physicians and the PSG to see new referrals and assess if they are suitable for cardiac surgery. Those children who are suitable will be worked up for surgery, which can either be done locally in Kenya or abroad. MEAK acts an advocate for children’s families who cannot afford costly cardiac surgery and presents these cases to various charities who can sponsor the surgery. MEAK will also review some of the heart patients who have been operated on in the past by MEAK or in India by the team at Narayana Health in Bangalore.

An additional, important aim of this trip is to include a great deal of teaching, especially for the paediatricians in Kilifi who are very keen on expanding their cardiology skills and continuing their working relationship with MEAK.