IOM has evacuated seven Kosovar children suffering from severe
congenital heart anomalies from Pristina to Sarajevo in Bosnia and
Herzegovina (BiH) for cardiac surgery.

The evacuation, under IOM's Swedish Medical Teams project,
brought out the children, accompanied by their mothers and four
Kosovar medics, for operations that will be conducted by Swedish
and Bosnian surgeons today through Saturday.

The surgical team will be led by pediatric heart surgeon Prof.
dr. Sune Johansson from the University Clinic in Linkoping, Sweden
and will include Bosnian doctors from Sarajevo Hospital.

The four Kosovar medics from the University Clinical Center in
Pristina, who accompanied the children to Sarajevo, will receive
on-the-job training by assisting in the operations.

The Swedish Medical Teams project, which has run since 2000, is
part of IOM's broader capacity-building strategy for Kosovo's
health care system. Its main aim is to evacuate individual patients
who cannot be treated locally due to the lack of suitable
diagnostic possibilities, complex post-operative intensive care,
and specific highly specialized equipment.

Together with local colleagues, the Swedish doctors perform
needs assessment screenings to evaluate patients requiring complex
operations and identify those requiring treatment.

The project aims to diminish the longer-term need to refer
patients for treatment abroad by building local capacity in Kosovo,
establishing greater professional cooperation within the region and
between Swedish and local specialists, and introducing new medical
techniques and procedures through training and donations of
equipment.

Since 2000, Swedish Medical Teams have visited Pristina 148
times and 26 medical specialists have received training abroad.
Other doctors have received on-the-job training locally. A total of
77 patients, mostly children, have been evacuated to Sweden or BiH
for medical treatment and surgery. The teams have examined and
treated a total of over 1,000 Kosovars and performed 228
operations.

The project has focused on pediatric cardiology, orthopedics,
plastic and hand reconstructive surgery, ophthalmology, oncology,
gynaeco-oncology and physiotherapy/rehabilitation.

For further information, please contact:

The IOM Kosovo Public Information Office

Tel +381(0)38 24 90 42 or +377(0)44 134 826

E-mail: "mailto:info@iom.ipko.org">info@iom.ipko.org 

Website: "http://www.iomkosovo.org" target="_blank" title=
"">www.iomkosovo.org