United Kingdom medical volunteer team 'Chain of Hope' will return to Jamaica next week to perform 20 open-heart surgeries on patients at the Bustamante Children's Hospital.

Beverly Needham, the hospital's chief executive officer, said only one open-heart surgery is performed each week because of a shortage of staff cardiologists. She said, however, that Chain of Hope has started a mission to develop the hospital's cardiac programme, with the aim of allowing it to operate efficiently on its own.

Ms. Needham added that the mission is to transfer knowledge about the technicalities of conducting error-free surgeries. As such, she said that the local team has performed eight surgeries with 100 per cent recovery by patients.

Successful surgery

Notably, Chain of Hope was responsible for the successful surgery on young Chadae Paul, from Belle Plain in Clarendon, in 2004. Her mother, Stacy Ann Paul, said Chadae's condition had been a concern to her family since her birth in 2001. Chadae was a patient at the Bustamante Children's Hospital. Her surgery was arranged and facilitated by the Chain of Hope medical charity, and was performed at the world-renowned Hanley Street Clinic in London, England.

In November last year, the team performed 16 surgeries at the hospital.

- Joseph Cunningham