Congenital Heart Surgery in Iraq

At the head of the group was Dr. William M. Novick… Coming from him, the future of Iraq’s young hearts seems particularly desperate. “This is a hideous problem,” he explained. “I’ve covered every possible place for heart surgery in this country. All six of them put together are not operating on 400 kids a year. This country has a population of 30 million. With a birth rate of 35 per thousand, they are generating in excess, by conservative estimates, 6,000 new children a year that need surgery.”

The incidence of Congenital Heart Defects in the US is 8 per 1000. If he’s right (and his guess would be better than mine) Iraq’s kids are in deep shit.