The Ministry of Health announced on May 16 that more than 30 complex heart surgeries were performed for children and adolescents with cardiac malformations in the Cajamarca region. The procedures were carried out by the medical team from the National Institute of Child Health San Borja (INSNB) as part of its sixth campaign this year.
These surgeries were provided at no cost to the families, with coverage funded by the Comprehensive Health Insurance, which finances care without any charge to relatives.
Specialists from INSNB participated in the surgical campaign, which took place this week at the Regional Teaching Hospital of Cajamarca. They worked alongside local doctors who have received training through these campaigns.
Zulema Tomas Gonzales, general director of INSNB, said she is pleased that these efforts are helping establish a pediatric cardiology network in Peru. “Today, doctors and specialists from Cajamarca are prepared to perform heart surgery on children from that region,” Tomas said. She added that decentralizing cardiovascular surgery through INSNB’s ‘Operación Vida’ plan is essential for treating cases not only in Cajamarca but also in Cusco, Piura, Ayacucho, Arequipa, Chiclayo and Iquitos.
During this latest campaign in Cajamarca, four children aged four to five underwent surgery; three had open-heart procedures using extracorporeal circulation machines. One case involved Xiara, a four-year-old with Down syndrome who had been diagnosed with congenital heart disease at age one. Despite several attempts to receive surgery in Lima previously, her operation was finally completed successfully during this local campaign.
In May, INSNB will also conduct campaigns operating on children with cleft lip and palate in Cutervo province (Cajamarca) and provide specialized pediatric surgical care in Tayacaja (Huancavelica).
