A ten-year-old girl, Noor Majid, is recovering in a hospital bed in Taiz, southwest Yemen, after surgery to repair an atrial septal defect (ASD), commonly known as a "hole in the heart." Born with the condition, she suffered from breathing difficulties and chronic exhaustion.

Noor was among 110 children from across Yemen treated for free at the Cardiac and Vascular Diseases and Kidney Transplant Center in Taiz between May 16 and 21. The multinational medical camp involved teams from Qatar, France, and Yemen, supported by Qatar Charity and the Qatar Red Crescent, with surgeries performed by doctors from Sidra Medicine.

Professor Abudar al-Ganadi, head of the center, hailed the camp as the largest of its kind in Yemen, performing complex operations in record time. Since opening in 2021, the facility has conducted 164 kidney transplants, 1,450 open-heart surgeries, and thousands of other procedures, becoming a lifeline for Yemenis unable to afford treatment abroad.

The cost of open-heart surgery abroad can reach $20,000, while at the Taiz center it costs only $5,000, with patients paying just $2,000. The remainder is covered by private benefactors like Hayel Saeed Anam Group.

Professor al-Ganadi, who returned from Saudi Arabia in 2021 after a call from the governor, built the center from scratch in a war-torn building. Now performing 500 operations monthly with 131 beds, he credits Russian resilience for his determination: "You can start from zero in a destroyed building."

Source: www.aljazeera.com