Good news for the Monaco Red Cross surgical support team

Wednesday 14th December 2016: Sargis, a 2 years old Armenian boy, is travelling home to his family in good health following his operation at the CCTM.

The Monaco Red Cross has been able to bring over a child from Armenia for the first time as part of the “Monaco Collectif Humanitaire” programme.

The association “Monaco Heart For Armenian Children”, founded by Dr Armand Eker, under the honorary chairmanship of the Sovereign Prince Albert II and the patronage of the singer Hélène Ségara, enabled, in close cooperation with the Monaco Red Cross and the members of Monaco Collectif Humanitaire, a young Armenian child to receive surgery. The surgical procedure which took place on 25th November 2016 at the Monaco Cardiothoracic Centre has been a true success thanks to the intervention of Dr Olivier Raisky and Dr François Bourlon.

Little Sargis with Dr Bourlon’s team and his Monaco Red Cross host family

The surgical support team at the Monaco Red Cross is delighted to have been able to conduct little Sargis’s transfer from Armenia successfully as well as ensure his follow-up in the Principality, until he returned home with a repaired heart on Wednesday 14th December. During his stay, the two-year old little boy was given loving support from one of the voluntary host families who open up their homes during the convalescence of these children (between 3 and 6 weeks).

Implemented in January 2015 by the Monaco Red Cross, the aim of this surgical support programme is to organise the travel arrangements and stay of children most often suffering from serious heart conditions which cannot be operated on in their own country. Since it opened, it has already welcomed 32 children from Algeria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Madagascar, Mali, Morocco, Niger, Senegal and in the last few weeks, Armenia!