A Remedy for Iraq’s South: Iraqis Host Pediatric Cardiac Surgery and Training ‘Remedy’ Mission in Iraq’s Arab South

Basra, Iraq, June 29, 2011 –(PR.com)– The Preemptive Love Coalition (PLC), a U.S.-based NGO in Iraq, is announcing their 6th lifesaving surgical and training mission to serve children in Iraq suffering from congenital heart defects.

American surgeon Dr. William Novick and his international team including volunteers from Australia, Belarus, Canada, Croatia, Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom will work around the clock from June 27-July 8 to provide hands-on training to local Iraqi healthcare professionals while performing around 25 lifesaving heart surgeries on Iraqi children from across the country.

The mission will take place in a city located between Baghdad and Basra; a region that saw fierce battles during both The Gulf War and the Iraq War.

These wars left behind generations of exposure to chemical weapons, which combined with sanction-induced poverty, poor prenatal care and intra-family marriage to leave thousands of children in the region on a waiting list for a lifesaving heart surgery.

To date, PLC has given 163 children a shot at lifesaving heart surgery and provided more than 20,000 hours of training to 100 Iraqi healthcare professionals inside Iraq.

These Remedy Missions represent a more robust, long-term solution for the people of Iraq than sending children abroad for surgery, a model to which many developing countries are beholden. Remedy Missions create local solutions by training Iraqi doctors and nurses in their own country.

Each mission is a step closer to a restored Iraq, and each surgery leaves an indelible mark of love on the chests of these children.

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