Quake-zone kid gets new hope under the knife

By Cai Wenjun  |   2008-10-14  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

A YOUNG boy from Sichuan Province will receive two operations in one round of anesthesia in a city hospital - Shanghai's youngest patient to undergo such double procedures.

Duan Yongjie will be operated on at Xinhua Hospital to treat his congenital heart disease and cleft lip on Saturday, the day before he turns 2 years old. Doctors checked the boy yesterday and worked out a plan for the surgeries, which will take four to five hours.

The entire medical treatment will be free under Xinhua Hospital's initiative in which it sent a team of medical experts late last month to visit poor villages around Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, which experienced destruction during the May earthquake. They were there to offer free medical consultation and bring five patients back to Shanghai for free treatment.

Two children and a 67-year-old woman with cataracts will receive surgery tomorrow. Duan Yongjie and 12-year-old Li Yao, who is also suffering from congenital heart disease, will go under the knife on Saturday.

Hospital officials said the operrations are among the programs the hospital will launch to celebrate its 50th anniversary this week. The hospital will also donate all the income from its out-patient services on Saturday, when 100 experienced medical experts will be at work, to earthquake-hit regions via the Shanghai branch of the Red Cross Society of China.

Duan will receive surgery to repair a hole in his heart and a separate procedure to repair his cleft lip.

"Our doctors have prepared a comprehensive surgery plan to ensure a quick and effective solution for the boy," said a hospital official.