Picture: Supplied
A BABY boy with a highly complicated heart condition was flown by Eastern Cape EMS officials to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town on Tuesday for lifesaving surgery.
Eastern Cape Health Department spokesman Siyanda Manana said the baby had been born at Frere Hospital in East London on February 2.
Manana said that shortly after his birth the baby had been flown by helicopter to Dora Nginza Hospital in Port Elizabeth and stabilised by surgeons.
The baby has not been named due to patient confidentiality.
“He has a very complicated heart condition. He will need surgery to fix it,” paediatric cardiologist and Dora Nginza Hospital paediatrics department head Dr Lungile Pepeta said.
He said the boy’s two major vessels that carry blood away from the heart – the aorta and the pulmonary artery – were switched.
“As we do not have a cardiac intensive care unit at Provincial Hospital we can’t risk doing the surgery here,” he said.
Pepeta said other children with less complicated heart conditions were helped in Port Elizabeth.
Emergency Medical Services Nelson Mandela Bay head Brenhan Metune said they had transported the baby in an incubator from Dora Nginza Hospital to the Red Cross Hospital on Tuesday.
The Red Cross Hospital did not respond to a request for an update on the baby’s condition.
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