Kabul Mission August 4-10, 2007

First US Cardiac Surgery ever in Afghanistan

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The cost of this mission was $63,000 for 15 children.

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Dr. Bernard Vasseur

Dr Bernard Vasseur, an American surgeon of The Reading Hospital Heart Center, Pennsylvania, USA joined in Kabul, as a volunteer surgeon for 5 days, the two-week cardiac mission (July 28th – August 10th 2007) organized by our European parent organization La Chaine de l’Espoir at the French Medical Institute for Children. The mission was led by Dr. Sylvain Chauvaud, a French cardiac surgeon of the Paris European Georges Pompidou Hospital and a member of the Board of La Chaine de l’Espoir.

Dr. Patrick Lobstein, anesthetist, with FMIC training fellows in the ICU.

The team of 12 (2 cardiac surgeons, 1 perfusionist, 1 anesthetist, 1 anesthetist nurse, 3 scrub nurses, 1 cardiologist, and 3 ICU nurses) operated on 25 and trained local staff.

The FMIC in Kabul is a mother and child hospital with 85 beds and equipped with modern technology. It was opened in November 2005 and more than 3000 (350 cardiac) surgical procedures have been performed since by European team missions while training local staff. Two premieres took place since the opening:

Elaha 15 years old
  • In April 2006, the first cardiac surgery in Afghanistan ever was done by the French doctor, Dr. Alain Deloche, founding President of Surgeons of Hope (also founder of Doctor Without Border), President of La Chaine de l’Espoir, Head of Cardiovascular Surgery at the European George Pompidou Hospital in Paris, and founder of the French Medical Institute for Children. The child-patient he operated on, the little girl Elaha 13, is now 16, and in very good health as per the latest update by Bernard Vasseur.
  • In August 2007, Dr. Vasseur, second president of Surgeons of Hope succeeding Dr. Deloche, was the first American surgeon to perform heart surgery in Afghanistan.