EMERGENCY USA is a USA based organization devoted to the promotion of a culture of solidarity, peace and respect for human rights.
EMERGENCY USA provides support to projects that offer free, high quality medical and surgical treatment for the victims of war and poverty.

Emergency

The Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery

The Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery offers high standard surgical care to children and adults suffering from acquired or congenital heart diseases. It is located in Soba, a village 20 kilometers from the Sudanese capital Khartoum. The Salam center is presently the only specialized and completely free-of-charge facility in an 11.5 million square kilometers area (three times the size of Europe) with a population of over 300 million.

The center began clinical activities in April 2007. Once fully operational, the Salam center will be able to carry out approximately 1,500 surgical procedures per year, as well as undertake screening and post-operative medical care.

Highly specialized international personnel provide on-the-job training to local staff to guarantee high quality treatment, and sustainability through the transfer of knowledge and skills.


A Regional Network

Serving a part of the world that has been severely tried by decades of war and conflict, one of the aims of the EMERGENCY Africa Regional Programme is to improve, strengthen and foster peaceful relationships between the countries involved through reciprocal cooperation in the public health field.

For this reason, EMERGENCY decided to name the heart of its regional programme in Africa, Salam, the Arabic word for peace.

The EMERGENCY Salam center for Cardiac Surgery located in Soba, Sudan, is the hub of the regional program, to be linked to a network of pediatric medical centers based in Sudan's nine neighboring countries. The pediatric centers will provide free-of-charge, high quality medical assistance to patients. Each center will also be equipped to host regular cardiac screening clinics for adults as well as children. Patients requiring surgery will be transferred free of charge to the Salam center in Soba, Sudan. Post-operative patients will also be seen at the cardiac clinics at each center to monitor their progress.

In March 2008, construction began of the Pediatric center in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR). This medical center has been completed and operative since March 2009. The opening of this center marks an important milestone in EMERGENCY’s Africa Regional Programme which strives to foster peace in a strife-torn region.

EMERGENCY’s latest endeavor, the construction of its newest Pediatric center in Nyala, in southern Darfur, Sudan, was initiated in 2009 and began treating patients in July, 2010.

THE SALAM CENTER FOR CARDIAC SURGERY KEY FACTS

Date opened: April 2007

Number of Patients Triaged: 36,359

Number of Cardiological Examinations: 28,092

Number of Admitted Patients: 4,894

Number of Surgical Interventions: 4,167

Number of Cath Lab procedures: 1,031

Number of Patients from Outside Sudan: 69 (from 11 different countries)

Activities: Open Heart Surgery - Pediatric and Adult, Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology 

Capacity: 63 beds

National Staff: 245

Facilities: 3 Operating Theaters, Sterilization Room; 15-bed Intensive Care Unit (ICU), 16-bed Sub-intensive Care Unit, 32-bed Surgical Ward, 2 Outpatient Departments (OPD), Radiology and Ultrasound Department, Laboratory and Blood Bank; Catheterization Laboratory, Physiotherapy Department, Pharmacy, Offices, Warehouses, Ancillary Services, 50-bed Guesthouse for Patients’ Relatives.

Data as of December 2011