Monaco Humanitarian Collective: paediatric cardiac surgery resumes at Monaco Cardiothoracic Centre

©Direction de la Communication/Stéphane Danna

After a break of more than two years due to COVID-19, surgery for children from developing countries has resumed at the Monaco Cardiothoracic Centre, thanks to the Monaco Humanitarian Collective and its donors.

Three children from Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Burundi have benefited from the intervention of the Centre’s new paediatric cardiac team, which is made up of Professor Sylvie Di Filippo, Dr Olivier Metton, Dr Olivier Raisky, Dr Stefano Di Bernardo and Dr Aude Missana.

Alongside the children who have received surgery, the Monaco Humanitarian Collective and the Monaco Cardiothoracic Centre also welcomed several donors, including the Monegasque Olympic Committee and the Compagnie Monégasque de Banque (CMB), which sponsored, to the tune of €42,195, the Six Star Medal¹ won by Pascal Camia, the first Monegasque national to join the ranks of those who have finished the six Abbot World Marathon Majors.

Olivier Giroud, the footballer and Monaco Humanitarian Collective ambassador, helped to secure this donation.

The charity Monaco Aide et Présence was also present, along with Rencontres Africaines and the Monaco Red Cross, organisations which play an important role in hosting children who come to the country for surgery.

Launched in 2008, the Monaco Humanitarian Collective has, since it was founded, enabled children whose cardiac conditions cannot be treated in their countries of origin to receive surgery in Monaco.

To date, 460 children have benefited from surgery.

In recent years, thanks to capacity building in the Monaco Humanitarian Collective’s partner countries, support is also available for operations to be conducted locally in Mali, Madagascar and Senegal. This will soon be expanded to Burkina Faso.

For more information, see: www.mch.mc

¹ The Six Star Medal is awarded to individuals who have completed the six marathons of the World Marathon Majors (Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin, London and Tokyo). The sum of €42,195 is a nod to the distance in kilometres (42.195) covered during a marathon.