Chinese doctors revisit Mongolian children who have received surgeries in China

A medical team of the Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) on Sunday visited four Mongolian households to examine the children who had received free surgeries for congenital heart disease in China last year.

Cardiologists from China examine a child in suburb of Ulan Bator, Mongolia, on Oct. 21, 2018. A medical team of the Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF) on Sunday visited four Mongolian households here to examine the children who had received free surgeries for congenital heart disease in China last year. Cardiologists from China on Saturday started a five-day mission to screen Mongolian children for congenital heart disease so that the children could later receive free treatment in China. [Photo/Xinhua]

Cardiologists from China on Saturday started a five-day mission to screen Mongolian children for congenital heart disease so that the children could later receive free treatment in China.

Children from the four households were randomly picked from the 53 children who had received free surgeries in China a year ago.

The home of Tsedensodnom Bilguudei, an eight-year-old orphan boy living with his grandparents in a traditional round-shaped dwelling or ger in the northern suburb of Ulan Bator, was their first stop.

"Bilguudei was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect when he was three. Golden-handed doctors from Huaxin Hospital in Beijing saved his life last year. Before the surgery, his health condition was severe," his grandmother Davaasuren Urjinkhand told Xinhua.

"I don't know how to express my appreciation to the doctors. We are always thankful to them," she said.

She said that Bilguudei's single mother died in 2016 from liver cancer.

The team also examined a five-year-old boy, Ganbold Erdeneshagai. Erdeneshagai lives with his parents and five brothers aged 2-15 in a ger in the eastern suburb of Ulan Bator.

He was diagnosed with ventricular septal defect in 2016, and underwent surgery in 2017 free of charge in Hohhot, the capital of north China's Inner Mongolia.

"I am very thankful to the CRCF for giving new life to my little son. If the humanitarian organization did not help, my son could not receive the proper treatment due to our financial situation," the boy's mother Otgon Enkhstetseg said.

Her husband, a construction worker, earns about 700,000 Mongolian tugrik (290 U.S. dollars) a month. The money is the 8-member family's total income.

The remaining two children are also from families with financial constraints.

"Now, all of the four children have no health problems. Their health conditions are ok," Su Junwu, head of the Pediatric Heart Surgery Center at Beijing Anzhen Hospital, said.

The examination is part of a humanitarian aid program by the CRCF, which was launched last year as part of the program "Angels Tour -- Belt and Road Humanitarian Rescue Mongolia Action for Children with Severe Diseases."

The program targets Mongolian children suffering from congenital heart disease. The plan is to provide 100 sick children with free heart surgeries in China.

Last year, 53 Mongolian children received free surgeries in China. This year, the team, in cooperation with Mongolian health authorities and medical institutions, will choose the rest from more than 120 cases.

The CRCF covers all the necessary costs related to treating the sick Mongolian children in China, including for travel and caretakers.