Kateryna Yushchenko Attends the Fourth Ukrainian Congenital Heart Lesions Forum Opening Ceremony

16 October 2008

October 16, 2008, Head of the Supervisory Board of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Kateryna Yushchenko took part in the Fourth Ukrainian Controversial Issues in Cardiology and Cardio Surgery of Congenital Heart Lesions Forum opening ceremony. The event, hosted by the Research and Practice Medical Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, was also attended by Minister of Health Care of Ukraine Vasyl Kniazevych, Deputy Minister of Health Care of Ukraine Vasyl Lazoryshynets, and Director of the Research and Practice Medical Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine Illia Yemets.

Addressing the Forum participants, Mrs. Yushchenko said, “Around 9,000 children with congenital cardiovascular defects are born in Ukraine every year.  For most of them cardio surgery is the only way to save their lives. I’m proud that, due to your knowledge and professionalism, today in Ukraine we can perform correction of the most complicated congenital heart lesions, regardless of the patient’s age.

Mrs. Kateryna spoke about projects initiated and carried out by Ukraine 3000 Foundation in the sphere of medicine, in part, rendering aid to children with heart lesions. She recalled the Healthy Heart of a Child, carried out by the Foundation together with McDonalds Ukraine in 2006, and the Cardio Pediatrician to Pediatrician workshop in 2007. Mrs. Kateryna also mentioned the Foundation’s cooperation with renowned cardio surgeons William Novick (USA) and Prof. Paul Vogt (Switzerland).

Mrs. Yushchenko gave a special mention to the Children’s Cardiology and Cardio Surgery Center’s staff members’ high professional level. “We know and appreciate the Center’s work. Even when we started creating the All-Ukrainian Center to Protect Mothers’ and Children’s Health, Ukraine’s first international level children’s hospital, we deliberately elected not to create a cardio surgery unit there. We completely trust the Children’s Cardiology and Cardio Surgery Center’s experience and achievements,” she said.

Minister of Health Care of Ukraine Vasyl Kniazevych, Deputy Minister of Health Care of Ukraine Vasyl Lazoryshynets, and Director of the Research and Practice Medical Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine Illia Yemets also spoke at the forum.

In course of the session, a TV bridge with Odesa Oblast Hospital was established.

After the ceremony Mrs. Yushchenko toured the Children’s Cardiology and Cardio Surgery Center, visiting the ICU and some of the wards and talking to the little patients and their parents.

The Fourth Ukrainian Controversial Issues in Cardiology and Cardio Surgery of Congenital Heart Lesions Forum is held in Kyiv October 16-18, 2008. Around Ukraine 3000 Foundation leading cardiologists and cardio surgeons from Belgium, France, and Ukraine are taking part in the Forum. The schedule envisages a number of sessions and a TV conference between three clinics: the Children’s Cardiology and Cardio Surgery Center, Odesa Oblast Hospital, and Seattle Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center (USA). It will be the first time that such a conference is held in Ukraine, bringing telemedicine in our country to an entirely new level/