.jpg?sfvrsn=466bcc36_1)
From left to right: Associate Professor Laszlo Kiraly, Head and Senior Consultant, Department of CTVS, NUHCS; Sri Madhusudhan Sai, Founder, SSSSCHF; Professor Aymeric Lim, CEO, NUH; Dr Krupali Tappoo, Director, SSSSCHF; and Mr Sumeet Tappoo, Chairman, SSSSCHF, at the MOU signing ceremony. Photo credit: NUH
SINGAPORE — In February 2025, a multidisciplinary team of 14 specialists from the Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) at the National University Heart Centre, Singapore (NUHCS) and the National University Hospital (NUH), which includes the Khoo Teck Puat – National University Children’s Medical Institute (KTP-NUCMI), travelled to Suva, Fiji for its third Heart to Heart Mission.
The mission trip is part of a global health initiative by NUHCS and NUH to provide patients in underprivileged communities with much needed healthcare, while supporting local health systems with transfer of medical skills and knowledge, education and training.
Every year, more than 2,700 children in Fiji and the Pacific islands are born with congenital heart disease (CHD), a life-threatening condition that claims lives before adulthood without timely treatment. In this region, there are no paediatric cardiac services available, and seeking treatment involves overseas travel, which most families are unable to afford.
This year’s Heart to Heart Mission team comprised surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses, intensivists and perfusionists working alongside other medical professionals from Australia and India. They completed 14 complex surgeries at the Sri Sathya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Heart Hospital Fiji (SSSSCHF), over a period of six days. The team also performed the first open mitral valvotomy for rheumatic heart disease in Fiji.1
In 2022, the Sai Prema Foundation Fiji established the SSSSCHF, a purpose-built facility to provide free cardiac screening and surgery for underprivileged children. The 54-bed facility has become a symbol of compassion, commitment, and medical excellence, and the team from NUHCS and NUH has been a part of SSSSCHF’s efforts to provide life-saving paediatric cardiac surgery to children in need.
On 9 May 2025, NUH and SSSSCHF signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support annual paediatric cardiac surgical missions to SSSSCHF. The missions will not only continue to provide surgeries to children in need, but will also serve as a platform for shared learning, professional growth and innovation between institutions.
“Such missions enable us to share our expertise with local doctors and nurses, and provide long-term coaching and professional support. The multidisciplinary team experience gained from the mission also offers learning opportunities to improve our own congenital heart disease programme, and nurtures a strong spirit of volunteerism and compassion in our medical professionals,” said Associate Professor Laszlo Kiraly, Head and Senior Consultant, Department of CTVS, NUHCS, who has been leading the annual Heart to Heart Mission since 2022.
NUH and NUHCS will also welcome medical staff from SSSSCHF for short-term training and observerships, creating a supportive environment for visiting staff to thrive, learn and bring new skills back to their communities.
Professor Aymeric Lim, Chief Executive Officer, NUH, said, “This partnership illustrates the institutions’ ongoing commitment to global health, with the core objective of improving the health and well-being of underprivileged communities. This also helps build public health capacity and further health security to defend against potential threats in the region. Our global health initiatives currently span across multiple countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.
To download the PDF version of the media release, click here.
1Rheumatic heart disease is a condition where the heart valves have been permanently damaged by rheumatic fever. Open mitral valvotomy is a procedure to treat mitral stenosis, a condition where the mitral valve narrows, often due to rheumatic heart disease.
