Surgical operations rekindling hope

In 1999, Children Action - in collaboration with the University Hospitals of Geneva - decided to provide Serbian and Kosovar child victims of the violent conflict in the Balkans with surgical and medical care. In 2001, Children Action decided to broaden the scope of this project. Today it offers surgical operations within the paediatric surgery department at the University Hospitals of Geneva for children who do not have access to appropriate medical care no matter what their country of origin.

What it takes to qualify for this programme

Given the large number of requests received and the small scale of the Children Action organisation, the foundation can only afford to cover medical and hospital expenses. Children Action helps families with the administrative paperwork (i.e. - obtaining visas, etc.) but does not cover, except in exceptional cases, travel or accomodation for the patient or their families. Moreover, in order to retain this project on a long-term basis and to obtain the necessary visas from the Swiss Government, families must return to their country of origin after the medical intervention and not ask for political asylum.

Concrete results

55 children have benefited from surgical and medical treatment since 2001.

Cost

Budget allocated to this project: CHF 50 000 (34 000 €) per year.
It should be noted that this budget is allocated according to needs and is not always used in its entirety.

Team

The project is supervised by Professor Claude Le Coultre, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Geneva