Heart doctor operates on 7,000 children in 7 years

A doctor at the General Hospital of Guangzhou's Military Command of the People's Liberation Army has performed surgery on more than 7,000 children with congenital heart disease over the past seven years.

Zhang Weida, director of the hospital's cardiothoracic surgery department, has also traveled more than 200,000 kilometers through 10 provinces and regions across the country to provide free medical checks for thousands of children with the disease in recent years, sources with the hospital said.

The youngest of the children treated was only 5 days old. Congenital heart disease can be fatal if untreated, Zhang said.

Led by Zhang, the department has also developed more than 20 surgical skills to treat the disease, with its recovery rate reaching 98.6 percent.

The surgeries and free medical checks were carried out under a nationwide charity program, which was launched early in 2007 by the Guangdong charity federation and the local civil affairs authority.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn