Italian cardio-surgeon finds passion in healing children’s hearts

AMMAN — When he was invited to a work trip to East Jerusalem to treat Palestinian children in 1999, Italian cardio-surgeon Giancarlo Crupi found his passion and strength to continue in that journey.

Within the framework of the Middle East Heart Children Project, Crupi performed open-heart surgeries for around 35 Children in Jordan, with the most recent one being early this week for a 14-year-old child, he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The project started in December 2013 by the Italian “Healing a Child’s Heart” and the American “Gift of Life” organizations and Crupi operated the first surgery in Amman in 2014.

Crupi treated Jordanians, Palestinians and Syrians during his visits to Jordan, which is when he thought of creating a programme that treats children with heart diseases for free. 

“The idea behind this project is to give happiness, to give a second chance of life to children who are born with severe congenital heart disease and to let their mothers smile,” the surgeon said.

He said the Flying Angels Foundation is to pay the travel expenses of any doctors willing to fly and help children and the travel cost of sick children who need a medical treatment.

He said open-heart surgeries for children are considered “complicated” and that major complications might occur, such as death during surgery.

He told The Jordan Times that the project aims at creating a local team with the ability to “repeat the same operation with the same success” in the long run.

“I truly believe that anybody of us, according to their capabilities, should do their best to make a child happy and healthy,” Crupi added. “Looking at [the] child and seeing his smile after surgery is the most rewarding thing.”

“When I am in trouble [or] sad… I look at the [photos] and find the… strength to go ahead,” he said.

Crupi has previously dealt with several cases in the Kingdom, where his first operation took place at the University of Jordan hospital and performed operations on eight children.

He then performed open-heart surgeries at Al Khaldi Hospital on 12 children between the ages of 6 months to 12 years, while in late 2015, he led surgeries for 9 children at Al Istiqlal Hospital.

The Italian Ambassador to Jordan Giovanni Brauzzi said the project is the result of “an intense collaboration” between Jordan and Italy.

He said there are many projects resulting from collaboration between both countries in the health sector, firstly by equipping and training medical doctors at the Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences and the Our Lady of Peace Centre for both Syrians and Jordanians.

“Jordan has all the potential to become a regional hub for health in general… There are many people from outside who come to Jordan whenever they have a serious health problem or regular medical checkups,” the envoy told The Jordan Times.

Al Istiklal Hospital Director Osama Attari said the medical treatment offered has saved lives that could have been lost.

There will be a medical team available at Al Istiklal Hospital to perform open-heart surgeries for children as part of the international project, according to Attari.

The surgeon said the team currently carrying out operations at Al Istiklal Hospital is composed of Jordanian, Palestinian, and Italian doctors.

The project now provides children from Moldova, Kosovo, Iraq, Uganda, Tunisia, El Salvador and Morocco with the chance to be treated anywhere in the world free of charge.