What We Do

Cardiac Programme

This year, CCPI has rolled out a new Cardiac Programme in Ukraine. With the help of Dr William Novick and his US Medical teams, over 6,000 children on a waiting list for surgeries will be operated on in four of the major cites, Odessa, Kiev, Kharkhiv and Donetsk. Dr Novick continues to perform life-saving operations on children in Belarus, where the waiting list for surgeries was 7,000 children when he began there over five years ago.

One of the organs most vulnerable to the devastating effects of nuclear radiation is the heart. Many surgeons working in the Chernobyl Zone have  identified a previously unknown condition which they have termed Chernobyl Heart. With one operation, the Chernobyl Heart condition can be easily remedied. Each operation costs just €1,000! It is estimated that 800 to 1000 new-born infants are added to this list each year. Without intervention most of the children on the waiting list are looking at a very short lifespan. Many of them will die within 3 to 5 years.

Since its establishment the Chernobyl Children's Project International has made vigorous efforts to tackle this problem and has arranged for many children to receive the cardiac treatment they require. Many of these children have been brought to Ireland for medical treatment. In Ireland they have received expert medical treatment and care which has quite literally saved their lives.

This exciting programme is being run in conjunction with our US office. Our organisation provides financial and logistical support to the International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF) cardiac surgeons, led by world renowned surgeon Dr William Novick, who will make several surgical trips per year to Belarus and Ukraine over the next five years.

Through the Cardiac Programme CCPI are able to save 25 - 30 children on each of the trips. Because the cardiac surgeons travel to the region to perform the surgeries, CCPI are able to reach and save many more lives and provide much needed training to local physicians.
Our Chernobyl Heart Programme, as well as the impact of saving so many precious lives, has the additional task of providing ‘side by side’ training of local specialists. 

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