Twenty-seven Guyanese children with congenital heart defects are scheduled to receive life-saving cardiac surgery before the end of the year as Guyana partners with India’s Apollo Health Systems to tackle a backlog of children requiring specialised treatment.
President Irfaan Ali announced the programme during an engagement with parents of affected children on Saturday.
The first group of 17 children is scheduled to undergo surgery at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation from September 28 to October 2.
A further 10 children are expected to receive surgery during a second medical mission in December.
The programme is intended to reduce the number of children waiting for specialised cardiac surgery in Guyana’s public health system.
Approximately 40 children are currently on the waiting list.
Ali said the government intends to have the remaining children treated by the first quarter of 2027, effectively bringing the waiting list to zero.
“This is something that is painful for parents, it’s painful for relatives, it’s painful for a medical team when these interventions are needed and we’re not in a position to deliver,” Ali said, according to reports of the engagement.
The initiative is also designed to reduce the financial and logistical burden on families that previously had to consider overseas treatment.
The government will provide transportation for the children and accommodation for those travelling from outside Georgetown.
Health Minister Dr Frank Anthony said Apollo Health Systems is providing a team of specialists to work alongside Guyanese doctors at the Georgetown Public Hospital.
The collaboration is significant because some of the cases awaiting treatment are considered complex.
Dr Tarik Davidson, head of the Paediatric Department at GPHC, said the medical team would be undertaking cases that are more complex than those normally performed during some other visiting medical missions.
He also noted the high cost and technical demands associated with paediatric cardiac surgery.
The programme forms part of a broader effort to strengthen specialised healthcare in Guyana.
The government has previously relied on international medical teams to conduct cardiac operations on children, including visiting teams from the United States.
However, officials said some of the more complex cases require a different level of specialised intervention.
The Apollo partnership allows the procedures to be performed in Guyana rather than requiring families to travel overseas.
For parents, the programme could mean faster access to treatment and less financial and logistical pressure.
For the health system, however, the longer-term challenge will be maintaining the capacity to diagnose, monitor and treat congenital heart conditions locally after the visiting teams depart.
The government says its immediate objective is clear: complete 27 surgeries by the end of 2026 and treat the remaining children early next year.
