Koreans to help upgrade pediatric heart surgery facilities at SGNHC

By A Staff Reporter, Kathmandu, June 26: At a time when the number of young children suffering from heart disease has been rising in Nepal, renowned South Korean health institutions are planning to work together with Shahid Gangalal National Heart Centre (SGNHC) to save the lives of such kids.

“With heart disease in children becoming very common, we are in the process of collaborating with SGNHC to deal with this problem,” said Professor Woong-Han Kim, the Head of Division of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery at Seoul National University (SNU)’s College of Medicine and Children’s Hospital.

JW Lee Centre for Global Medicine will also be part of the team.

“It is necessary for every country to prioritise the health and education of children, who are the future of the nation,” Prof. Kim said.

According to him, the Korean health institutions have wanted to support SGNHC because it has been an excellent heart in Nepal. “We are planning to launch a programme at SGNHC to strengthen its human resources for pediatric surgery,” he said.

Besides, the Korean health experts will share their knowledge and experiences with Nepali doctors. “We will also help SGNHC in upgrading its surgical facilities,” he said.

Recently, an SNU led by Kim was in Nepal to take part in a workshop on hospital infection prevention and control, which was held in Dhulikhel Hospital.

The main objective of the workshop was to share ideas on how to get prepared for the possible pandemics. “As we had to struggle hard to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, we must prepare for tackling similar contagions,” he said.

Meanwhile, Prof. Kim is thinking of joining hands with Park Foundation Nepal and various hospitals here in the country to organise health camps targeting the needy rural communities.

Park Foundation Nepal was established in memory of renowned South Korean alpinist late Park Young-seok.

“Since the late Park was my close friend, I want to participate in the health programme to be launched in Nepal,” he said.

The late Park had dreamt of establishing a hospital in Nepal for providing better healthcare services to the rural people.  But he could not materialise the plan as he along with two fellow climbers have gone missing from Mt. Annapurna since October 2011.