Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. Fenny Shidhika and partners have launched the Namibia National Children's Hearts Trust.

This is a breakthrough for the country, as many children and adults with heart diseases have often been referred to Cape Town for attention and treatment. 

The Trust will provide affordable health care, create awareness about the disease, and will perform between 150 and 200 transcatheter and surgical procedures per annum.

Its Founder and Pediatric Cardiologist, Dr. Fenny Shidhika says the Trust will also assist the Ministry of Health and Social Services in accommodating people with congenital and heart diseases regardless of gender, or socio-economic status. 

Dr. Shidhika says through the Trust, they intend to build capacity for pediatrician cardiac services.

"Today is the day that has been long marinating for a very long time, it meets its reality today, the theme is just not merely red and black,  today the theme is a community to advance humanity, we are here to stand in the cold to advance humanity." 

The Trust will act as a medium to gather donations in cash, equipment, or material resources to assist the ministry. 

The prime concerns of the Trust are to create an environment that retains and enables the rights of individuals to perform at their best and ensure that they invest in innovative projects.

The Health and Social Services Minister Dr. Kalumbi Shangula says heart diseases among children and adults have been rising steadily over the years.

Dr. Kalumbi says a lack of infrastructure and skilled professionals has drastically delayed effective service delivery to patients. 

"One of the most pressing situations for me, when I was a permanent secretary at the Ministry of Health more than a decade ago, was to observe long queues of people with heart problems waiting to be sent to South Africa for treatment and some of them died before help could be obtained."

Dr. Shangula says effective quality healthcare service can be achieved through collaboration between the public and private sectors.  

The Founding President, Sam Nujoma who officially launched the Trust says these types of initiatives will enrich lives and bring hope to the masses.

"As you are all aware that before independence and soon after, patients with heart disease were either not identified or identified too late and those identified were sent to South Africa or Kenya, but that is not a sustainable, nor economically viable solution."

The Namibia National Children's Hearts Trust was established in 2022 and has since been relying on sponsors to fund its operations.