The first six neonatal cardiac surgeries have been performed in Macedonia at the Skopje-based Children's Surgery Clinic in the course of last week.
The interventions were carried out under the guidance of a team from the International Children's Heart Foundation, led by world-renowned surgeon William Novick.
Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, accompanied by Health Minister Nikola Todorov, paid Sunday a visit to the Children's Surgery Clinic, saying the project marked a new stage of cardiac surgery in Macedonia.
"This team is also training our doctors and will come every three months in the coming three years. We expect that the training of our doctors will be completed in the meantime and they will continue to perform the surgeries on their own", stressed PM Gruevski.
According to him, the project would result in large savings for operations abroad, proper training for Macedonian doctors, as well as less stress for parents.
William Novick stressed the team of Macedonian professionals was enthusiastic and motivated, adding his belief that in time they would be a good team for the children with heart diseases in Macedonia.
Minister Todorov said the International Children's Heart Foundation's mission is to develop neonatal cardiac surgery in numerous countries worldwide.
"Over the next three years, their teams will come every three months, stay here for two weeks performing heart surgeries and educate our doctors in parallel. Our idea is to build capacities in the Macedonian public health for own performance of cardiac surgeries", emphasized Todorov.
Six other neonatal cardiac surgeries will be performed in the coming week.
