The Health Track 2018 Newsletter Q1 | Page 28

MOTHER AND BABY FAIR their heart missions at Kenyatta National Hospital since 2002. 2017 was the first year that the paediatric cardiac surgical mission for repair of congenital heart defects took place at M.P Shah Hospital. Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) remains the world’s most common birth defect, affecting approximately 1 in 100 children. Children with CHD in Africa have a dramatically different 28 THE HEALTH TRACK prognosis to those living in developed nations, in terms of morbidity and mortality. Hence, this partnership between MEAK/Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Jain Social Group and M.P Shah Hospital has the goal of treating children who cannot afford surgical repair. In January 2017, the teams performed open-heart surgeries on 15 children. (Details of daily dairy: http:// www.meak.org/documents/ Heartmissiondiary_2017.pdf. JANUARY - MARCH 2018 The patient list with telephone numbers was provided in my previous email).   This year, a similar mission was organized from January 25 th to February 2 nd 2018 at the M.P Shah Hospital’s cardiac center. The international team was made up of 9 specialist doctors and 7 nurses. A total of 178 children were screened and 21 open heart surgeries were carried out on children with congenital heart problems. Motherhood is one of the most honored and cherished state in a woman’s life. It carries with it so many responsibilities but is one in which joy, love ,emotion and duty all come together. The birth of a baby is not only a tumultous event for the family, but heralds the beginning of a new generation and harbours the dreams and hopes not only of the individual but the whole community and indeed the whole country. To mark this two cardinal events in any family’s life the M.P Shah Hospital organised a mother and baby fair on 9 th December 2017, where Mothers, Expectant mothers, Daddies and children can interact and share ideas and experiences with each other and gynaecologists, nutritionist and pediatricians.  M. P. Shah Hospital hosts the Mother & baby Fair annually with the aim of enlightening mothers and expectant JANUARY - MARCH 2018 THE HEALTH TRACK 29