A five-year-old child from the Gaza Strip has recently undergone a life-saving surgery at a hospital in Israel, it was revealed Monday. Amir Yahya Mabukh from the city of Jabalia was suffering from a congenital heart defect that could have led to heart failure.
According to his family, the child contracted the flu when he was two months old. His mother, Maha, took him to the family doctor, who diagnosed the baby with a birth defect due to a blockage in one of the arteries of the heart.
The doctor told Amir’s parents about the “Save a Child’s Heart” foundation, which facilitates the transfer of children from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to Israel to have life-saving procedures.
“We were happy to hear about that option,” his mother said. “Everybody in Gaza say Israeli doctors are the most professional in the world and can be counted on. The doctor helped us contact the foundation and we began the process.”
The procedure was conducted on Sunday, which coincided with the World Children’s Day. The open heart operation took place at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, with Amir escorted by his grandmother.
Incidentally, this wasn’t Amir’s first time in Israel. “He was in Israel once for a diagnosis,” his mother said. “He loved the games he could play at the hospital and told me he didn’t want to go back to Gaza.”