Qatar Red Crescent Society’s (QRCS) Afghanistan office has completed the third phase of the ‘Little Hearts’ program.

A total of 60 catheterisation surgeries were successfully performed on children with congenital heart defects by QRCS healthcare workers, the charity said.

The move, in cooperation with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) and the Kabul-based Ministry of Health (MOH), came as part of the Little Hearts program, which was created to help children from financially disadvantaged families suffering with with cardiovascular problems. The ARCS team mobilised resources to treat up to 7,000 children with the help of QRCS, who raised $150,728 in donations.

Gifts and toys were also distributed to the patients before and after procedures at the Amiri Medical Complex and Global Hospital in Kabul.

“We are grateful to the people of Qatar for helping us. Thank you QRCS for arranging such operations for our kids,” said Yar Mohamed, father of a 13-year-old patient.

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One in every 100 children in Afghanistan is born with heart problems, meaning there are a total of 128,000 cases, with the majority struggling with a lack of proper health care mainly due to poverty.

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