99 Bhutanese Children’s Heart Surgery Project to Dedicate Merit to His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej
(Thai-Bhutan SaveBlueHeart Project)
11-year-2-month-old Yeshi Gyeltshen lives in Lhuntse Province, Bhutan, a remote province that took two days by bus to reach the capital city of Thimpu.
Yeshi lives with his mother and three younger siblings, with Yeshi being the oldest, two younger sisters and one younger brother, as well as his grandparents, as his father separated from his mother when he was young. His family is a rice farmer. Yeshi is currently in the fourth grade, but the distance from his home to school is very far. His family does not have a car, so he has to walk to school, which takes about a day. However, the school provides accommodation for children who live far away. He is currently sick, so he has to temporarily stop studying. For treatment
This 99 Bhutanese children’s heart surgery project is a collaboration between the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Foundation, Rajavithi Hospital and Kasemrad Prachachuen Hospital. The foundation will be responsible for all surgery expenses. Both hospitals have provided assistance by charging a fixed rate. The Bhutanese government and Bhutanese airlines have also provided travel arrangements for the patients and their families.
Yeshi has a congenital heart disease with atrial septal defect. She often experiences fatigue and misses school. She has now stopped studying in order to travel to Thailand to receive treatment for her congenital heart disease. The medical team that traveled to the school found that she had heart disease. The doctors coordinated with the project’s medical team, which allowed Yeshi to be examined and selected by the Bhutanese medical team together with the medical team from Rajavithi Hospital. And the children’s hospital until becoming the first patient of this project, Yeshi and her mother arrived in Thailand on December 5, 2016 and underwent heart surgery to close the hole at Rajavithi Hospital on December 9, 2016. The surgery was successful and Yeshi was discharged from the hospital on December 16, 2016.
On December 21, 2016, Yeshi and her mother returned to Rajavithi Hospital to have a heart examination and lung X-ray, which the results were normal. Yeshi and her mother, along with the secretary of the Embassy of Bhutan in Thailand, paid a courtesy call to Dr. Manas Pothaporn, Director of Rajavithi Hospital, to express their gratitude to Rajavithi Hospital for their assistance in this surgery.
Yeshi and her mother will return to Bhutan on December 22, 2016, and Yeshi will be able to return to school like a normal child.
