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Open-heart surgery in Somalia by Italian medical team


Monday January 27, 2025

This was announced by the Italian Embassy in Mogadishu


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The Italian Embassy proudly announces a historic event for Somalia: an Italian medical team has successfully performed the first open-heart surgery on children with congenital heart disease in Mogadishu, marking a turning point for paediatric medicine in the Horn of Africa country.

This important milestone was made possible thanks to a national and international support network, coordinated by Dr. Edna Moallin Abdirahman, social activist of the Milan-based association Ameb, in collaboration with the Somali Hormuud Salaam Foundation, which provided financial support for the initiative. The two operations are part of a larger project that in recent months has already enabled eight Somali children suffering from serious heart disease to be operated on in Italy, thanks also to the contribution of the Lombardy Region.

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The surgery was an example of cooperation between Italian and Somali doctors: the Italian team, led by Prof. Stefano Marianeschi, head of the Italian Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, was able to perform the operation. Stefano Marianeschi, head of paediatric cardiac surgery at the Niguarda Hospital, and composed of Dr. Francesca Aresta, anaesthesiologist and resuscitator at the same hospital, Dr. Giuseppe Annone, interventional paediatric cardiologist at the Regina Margherita Hospital, and Dr. Silvia Scansani, sonographer and health researcher at the Policlinico di Milano, worked side by side with the local team from the Kalkal Hospital in Mogadishu, led by cardiac surgeons Dr. Mohamed Abdulkad and Dr. S. Salik, a cardiologist and a cardiologist at the Kalkal Hospital in Mogadishu. Mohamed Abdulkadir and Sisay Bekele.

These interventions, which give a new future to two Somali children, Zakaria and Maida, have an important actual and symbolic value for Somalia, representing not only a great achievement in the field of health, but also a concrete enhancement of local human and professional resources. "An historic result," commented the Somali authorities, who also thanked the Italian Embassy for its support in facilitating the initiative, "that will save countless lives and bring hope to families throughout Somalia.

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