I was invited to join the inaugural pediatric cardiac surgery trip of the Cambodia Health Professionals Association of America (CHPAA). CHPAA has been active with clinical trips to Cambodia for approximately 15 years, and it has decided this year to focus on helping children with heart disease. Congenital heart disease is the number one cause of death in children greater than one year of age.
There is currently only one pediatric cardiac surgery program in all of Cambodia. With a population of 17 to 18 million people, the expected need is 8 to 9 medium-sized programs to serve Cambodia. We will be in the first year of an anticipated 7- to 10-year commitment, working at the National Pediatric Hospital in Phnom Penh. Our goal is to help build a sustainable clinical program that will serve as a training center for the rest of the country.
I am an experienced pediatric cardiologist, with a focus on imaging. For this trip, my role is to directly screen the patients referred to our team for care--ensuring that the children selected would benefit from surgery. Going forward, my role would be to set up the educational program for trainees in pediatric cardiology.
Approximately 1,400 children with moderate to severe congenital heart disease are born each year in Cambodia. Without urgent attention, most of these children will die. For a population of 17 to 18 million, there should be 8 to 9 pediatric cardiac surgery programs in Cambodia.
The low number of physicians in Cambodia is a result of the Khmer Rouge genocide, which decimated the professional class, followed by a weak public healthcare system that struggles with low salaries, a lack of resources, and competition from a rapidly growing private sector. There is currently no formal process for training in pediatric cardiology in Cambodia.
On this inaugural trip, we expect to provide surgery to 10-12 children with straightforward heart lesions. We will use this opportunity to establish connections with the local team, which will allow us to build the educational infrastructure necessary to train the personnel that will carry on the work. Over time, the local team will gradually take on more responsibility for the clinical work as well as the training of additional personnel.
This program is expected to join forces with Empowering Hearts Globally (EHG), of which I am the founder. EHG is designing a resource-efficient, adaptable, and scalable global training program for pediatric cardiac care. It has the mission of training and supporting local trainers, which will include cardiologists, anesthesiologists, nurses, surgeons, and administrators.
The trip to National Pediatric Hospital was historic in many ways. We worked with the medical team in Phnom Penh to screen over 20 children on the first two days, 7 of whom received life-altering congenital heart surgery the following week. Our work was supported by the First Lady of Cambodia. This is just the first of many trips planned, with a continuing mission of education and collaboration during the time between visits. The financial aid of Doximity Foundation supplemented the monumental work of volunteers from the Cambodian Health Professionals Association of America (CHPAA). Thank you to everyone for your generosity.
