IOM has evacuated seven Kosovar children suffering from severe congenital heart anomalies from Pristina to Sarajevo in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) for cardiac surgery.

The evacuation, under IOM's Swedish Medical Teams project, brought out the children, accompanied by their mothers and four Kosovar medics, for operations that will be conducted by Swedish and Bosnian surgeons today through Saturday.

The surgical team will be led by pediatric heart surgeon Prof. dr. Sune Johansson from the University Clinic in Linkoping, Sweden and will include Bosnian doctors from Sarajevo Hospital.

The four Kosovar medics from the University Clinical Center in Pristina, who accompanied the children to Sarajevo, will receive on-the-job training by assisting in the operations.

The Swedish Medical Teams project, which has run since 2000, is part of IOM's broader capacity-building strategy for Kosovo's health care system. Its main aim is to evacuate individual patients who cannot be treated locally due to the lack of suitable diagnostic possibilities, complex post-operative intensive care, and specific highly specialized equipment.

Together with local colleagues, the Swedish doctors perform needs assessment screenings to evaluate patients requiring complex operations and identify those requiring treatment.

The project aims to diminish the longer-term need to refer patients for treatment abroad by building local capacity in Kosovo, establishing greater professional cooperation within the region and between Swedish and local specialists, and introducing new medical techniques and procedures through training and donations of equipment.

Since 2000, Swedish Medical Teams have visited Pristina 148 times and 26 medical specialists have received training abroad. Other doctors have received on-the-job training locally. A total of 77 patients, mostly children, have been evacuated to Sweden or BiH for medical treatment and surgery. The teams have examined and treated a total of over 1,000 Kosovars and performed 228 operations.

The project has focused on pediatric cardiology, orthopedics, plastic and hand reconstructive surgery, ophthalmology, oncology, gynaeco-oncology and physiotherapy/rehabilitation.

For further information, please contact:

The IOM Kosovo Public Information Office
Tel +381(0)38 24 90 42 or +377(0)44 134 826
E-mail: info@iom.ipko.org 
Website: www.iomkosovo.org