Each year 300 children are born with heart defects throughout Lithuania, of which 200 come to the Vilnius University Hospital for surgical treatment. Operations performed at the hospital include rare procedures such as removal of heart tumours, heart transplantation, and correction of severe and complex heart defects. Half of the surgeries are performed on children less than 1 year old.
Although the Department of Congenital Heart Disease Surgery at the hospital employs some of the most prominent and respected specialists in the country, outdated medical equipment places limits on their talents. Moreover, the very modest standard of the hospital building provides less than ideal surroundings for the children and their families.
The support from Norway will cover a substantial renovation of the premises of the department and purchase of modern medical equipment, giving the doctors the proper tools to take care of the little patients. In addition, the department staff will receive further training to improve their skills. This training will be undertaken in cooperation with experts from Rikshospitalet University Hospital in Oslo, which acts as a partner to the Lithuanian hospital.