The Fundación Cardioinfantil - Instituto de Cardiología (FCI-IC) is a not- for-profit organisation offers high quality medical attention to children and adults with very complex cardiovascular illnesses. Their mission is to treat all children, regardless of their parents’ income or social status, who require specialised medical interventions that are not always available in other health institutions in Colombia. Approximately 70% of the children treated come from lower income back- grounds.
The FCI, as a Fourth-tier hospital in the Colombian health service classification, receives many referrals of children whose pathologies cannot be treated elsewhere. At times, some of these children cannot be given the medical care that they urgently need as the FCI-IC does not have enough beds or specialised equipment. For this reason, they decided to create a new, Paediatric Intensive Care Unit to increase the number of children they help from 450 to 700, which means that they will also require additional equipment. FOCSA with your help donated two High frequency ventilators that have different specifications and serve different purposes allowing the hospital to currently look after 600 children per year approximately.
The clinical treatment is supported by educational, investigative and social responsibility programmes and is centred on the patient but also involves the family from the start. 3,760 children were admitted to the Paediatric Ward in 2017.
