One in every 100 children suffers from congenital heart defects — and as many as 95% of these can be treated through surgery, enabling them to go on to live normal lives.
But without treatment, these children die within weeks. Less than 30% of indigent South African children and 1% of children in the rest of the continent can afford the treatment they need.
Thus it was that the Waler Sisulu Paediatric Centre for Africa and its fund-raising organisation, the Walter Sisulu Trust, was established in November 2003 to offer access to life-saving heart treatment for the underprivileged children of Africa.
Based at Netcare Sunninghill Hospital in Johannesburg, the centre was established by renowned cardio-thoracic surgeon, Dr Robin Kinsley.
Since its inception, the hospital has performed more than 120 successful procedures on African children.
The centre offers top-quality assistance to Africa’s neo-nates, babies and children born with correctable cardiac defects. It has earned the reputation of being one of the finest and largest paediatric cardiac centres in the world. The centre has the capacity to treat 400 patients a year, with a planned expansion to increase capacity to about 800 patients a year.
One of the primary functions of the centre is to ensure that the correctable cardiac surgery at the centre is affordable, as well as accessible. Since 2003, Netcare has continued to be the centre’s major and primary sponsor, providing infrastructure, staff and discounted rates. These efforts are backed up by support from a wide range of corporate companies and organisations across the business spectrum.