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One in 100 children are born with a heart defect. That's why a volunteer team of eight paediatric cardiac medical professionals from Birmingham Children's Hospital has travelled to The National Heart Institute in Malaysia for a Children's HeartLink medical mission April 19 - 26 2008.

Surgeon David Barron checks on a patient post-op

This is the first time a full team will travel to the Institute with Children's HeartLink, an international medical nonprofit, from the United Kingdom, or the States for that matter. They will provide live-saving treatment to needy children and training to local medical professionals.

Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon David Barron

The mission to National Heart Institute (Institut Jantung Negara) includes a group of physicians, nurses, technicians and volunteers from Birmingham Children's Hospital, led by paediatric cardiac surgeon, David Barron, M.D. The team will be providing valuable training and teaching to the local cardiac medical staff, and screening and treating patients.

A report from the team in Kuala Lumpur

Greetings from Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. We are here with the team from the Birmingham Children's Hospital at the Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute or IJN), a regional centre of excellence in cardiac care.

Our main objective is to help improve the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease in children - focusing on the neediest families - by providing advanced teaching and education to medical professionals in Malaysia.

Four-year-old Siti Hasimah Mohamad

Tuesday, four-year-old Siti Hasimah Mohamad, received a life-saving operation at IJN. Siti's particular defect is very complex and this is the first time a case like this has been completed at IJN. Taking nearly eight hours, the medical team from the UK and IJN finished the operation, and she remains in the intensive care unit in a stable condition with great hopes for an excellent outcome.

She lives with her mother and father, along with six other siblings in a small village four hours east by car from Kuala Lumpur. Her father is a driver who earns $325 monthly, making medical care a huge financial hardship.

With the help of Children's HeartLink, Siti received the life-saving treatment she needed.听 Your support of Children's HeartLink helped give this family hope for a better future for their daughter.

Operation on a young cardiac patient

We've identified several other children with complex heart defects to receive treatment this week, as well as several interventional cases (treated in cath lab).

"Children鈥檚 HeartLink is committed to improving the lives of children suffering from heart disease around the world," said John Cushing, International Programs Director of Children鈥檚 HeartLink.

"With this new partnership, Dr. David Barron and his team will be collaborating with Dr. Mohd Azhari Yakub and his team to treat needy children while sharing knowledge and skills for the benefit of more children in the future.

"The contributions of these medical volunteers and support from Medtronic are the wonderful examples of how through collaboration the lives of many more children can be affected."

*All photos by John Abernathy