A girl receives medical examination of congenital heart diseases provided by a Chinese medical team in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, Oct. 20, 2018. A Chinese medical team on Saturday started here a five-day mission to screen out Mongolian child patients of congenital heart diseases for future free treatment in China. The service serves as part of a humanitarian aid program by the Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF), which launched last year the program "Angels Tour -- Belt and Road Humanitarian Rescue Mongolia Action for Children with Severe Diseases." (Xinhua/Suriya)
ULAN BATOR, Oct.20 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese medical team on Saturday started here a five-day mission to screen out Mongolian child patients of congenital heart diseases for future free treatment in China.
The service serves as part of a humanitarian aid program by the Chinese Red Cross Foundation (CRCF), which launched last year the program "Angels Tour -- Belt and Road Humanitarian Rescue Mongolia Action for Children with Severe Diseases."
The program targets Mongolian children aged 0-14 who suffer from congenital heart diseases. The plan is to provide 100 sick children with free heart surgeries in China.
"We arrived in Mongolia for the second year. Under the program, the CRCF is to provide free medical treatment for 100 Mongolian children suffering from congenial heart disease," said Liu Xuanguo, vice chairman of the CRCF and head of the medical team.
Last year, 53 Mongolian children received free surgeries, he said. And this year, the team, in cooperation with Mongolian health authorities and medical institutions, will choose the rest from more than 120 cases.
The CRCF foreign aid medical team working currently in Ulan Bator consists of nine people, including four cardiologists from Beijing and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China.
During their stay in Mongolia, they will also visit and conduct examinations of four children out of those treated in China last year.
The CRCF covers all the necessary costs related to treating the sick Mongolian children in China, including for travel and caretakers.
"The incidence of congenital heart disease is relatively high in Mongolia, partly due to air pollution. Many poor children cannot get the proper treatment," said Batbyamba Gantulga, health promotion program team leader at the Mongolian Red Cross Society.
As of 2017, there were some 2,000 registered child cases of congenital heart disease in Mongolia, he said.
