An international group of pediatric cardiologists from the American William Novick Global Cardiac Alliance intends to resume performing complex heart operations in young patients in Russia at the end of August, despite the ongoing pandemic, the head of the group, a well-known cardiac surgeon Bill Novick told.
“Our colleagues from Kemerovo asked us to come from August 21 to September 4,” he said.
In 2008-2013, Novick’s group visited Kemerovo 13 times. During this time, they managed to operate on 152 children, as well as help prepare local staff for complex operations on their own.
“In 2019, the Kemerovo surgeon, whom we trained, moved to another city, and colleagues asked us to resume cooperation in order to help another specialist learn the same complex operations. We are happy to help Kemerovo doctors, and we plan to continue the program until they reach their intended goal,” the American doctor said.
The plan for the upcoming trip in August has not yet been approved, but Novick’s team usually performs 10-15 operations in two weeks, about half of which have an increased level of complexity.
According to Novick, in the future his team may have another project related to Russia.
“We are always ready to help Russian specialists. Now we have a new group that wants to support projects in Russia, and they plan to agree on cooperation with us,” he said.
The alliance includes doctors from different countries who perform operations and train local specialists in different countries of the world, including “hot spots.” During their work in Russia since 2008, they have conducted more than 400 operations not only in Kemerovo, but also in other cities, in particular, in Nizhny Novgorod and Voronezh.
