A Remedy For Iraq: Iraqis Host Pediatric Cardiac Surgery & Training 'Remedy' Mission In Southern Iraq

Online, June 27, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Preemptive Love Coalition (PLC), a U.S.-based NGO in Iraq, is announcing their 6th lifesaving surgical and training mission to serve children in Iraq suffering from congenital heart defects.

American surgeon Dr. William Novick and his international team including volunteers from Australia, Belarus, Canada, Croatia, Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom will work around the clock from June 27-July 8 to provide hands-on training to local Iraqi healthcare professionals while performing around 25 lifesaving heart surgeries on Iraqi children from across the country.

The mission will take place in Nasiriyah, a city located between Baghdad and Basra. Having endured numerous battles during both the Gulf War and the Iraq War, Nasiriyah's residents are no strangers to war and its aftermath.

The region's perpetual conflicts have left behind generations of exposure to chemical weapons like white phosphorus and depleted uranium, which combined with sanction-induced poverty, poor prenatal care and intra-family marriage to leave thousands of children in the region on a waiting list for a lifesaving heart surgery. The Preemptive Love Coalition exists to eradicate this backlog and to facilitate the medical infrastructure within Iraq necessary to treat and care for this backlog of sick children.

To date, PLC has given 163 kids a shot at lifesaving heart surgery and provided more than 20,000 hours of training to over 100 Iraqi healthcare professionals inside Iraq.

These Remedy Missions represent a more robust, long-term solution for the people of Iraq than sending children abroad for surgery, a model to which many developing countries are beholden. Remedy Missions create local solutions by training Iraqi doctors, perfusionists, anesthesiologists and nurses in their own country.

Each mission is a step closer to a restored Iraq, and each surgery leaves an indelible mark of love on the chests of these children. To learn more about PLC's work in Iraq, go to www.preemptivelove.org/remedy.