Nairobi Hospital Hosts Children’s Charity Heart Fund Golf Tournament to Support Children with Congenital Heart Diseases
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 2 – The Nairobi Hospital hosted the Children’s Charity Heart Fund Golf Tournament at the Karen Country Club to raise funds and awareness for children living with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD).
Themed ‘Giving Little Hearts Big Dreams’ the annual tournament also aims at driving community action around the urgent need for accessible pediatric heart care in Kenya.
The Children’s Charity Heart Fund has enabled over 400 children, aged 0 to 12 to receive free, life-saving heart surgeries, Many of these children are now healthy thanks to the intervention of medical teams and the generosity of donors and partners.
The Nairobi Hospital Chief Executive Officer Mr. Felix Osano while speaking during the event emphasized the importance of continued support from partners in developing sustainable structures for equitable healthcare.
“It is a privilege to have a high number of corporate partners on board for this tournament the growth of this charity event over the years has opened up multiple opportunities to reach more underserved communities and drive the country’s sustainable healthcare agenda”, said Mr. Osano.
“We are happy with the turn out, the objective of this charity event is to give 2nd chance to children who need care when it comes to heart diseases “.
The Nairobi Hospital 2024 target was Ksh 5 million but managed to raise 4.8 million, Mr. Osano noted that in 2025 target of Ksh 10 Million has been surpassed and still counting commending the community for rallying behind.
“It is through these partnerships that we have been able to expand access to cardiac diagnosis and treatment within the country and give renewed hope to children with heart diseases”. Osano added.
He encouraged more corporates and partners to join the noble course towards building resilient and healthy societies.
Margaret Muiyoro, Director Nursing Services at The Nairobi Hospital highlighted that children with congenital heart diseases is expensive to treat with a single open surgery can cost up to KES 2.5 million far beyond the reach of most families however the hospital yearly hosts a golf tournament to raise funds to save the children.
“Over the years open heart surgery patients have come back with feedback as they have become productive, parents can be able to do their daily activities and also concentrate in class and perform well”, she said.
“It’s a great program and we look forward to do more so as to save lives, We are happy with all our collaborators and appreciate everyone who has taken part in this event “.
According to the World Health Organization over 5,000 children in Kenya require heart surgery for congenital defects each year, However only 120 to 150 open-heart surgeries are performed locally, with an additional 50 to 100 children receiving treatment abroad.
Consequently, the situation is made more challenging by a severe shortage of pediatric heart specialists, with fewer than 15 pediatric cardiologists nationwide and only two hospitals equipped to perform pediatric open-heart surgery.
Further, yearly thousands of children are born with undetected health conditions, many of which are life-threatening, Although CHD is the world’s most common birth defect, affecting 1 in every 100 live births it remains widely unknown, particularly in low and middle-income countries like Kenya.
Dr. Barcley Onyambu, the Board Chairperson Nairobi Hospital emphasized the importance of equitable access to medical care for children who have serious conditions such as heart diseases as this is crucial in securing the country’s future generation.
He further noted that advancing the medical field and making it possible for children to equitably access medical care for serious conditions such as heart diseases is a key part of the institutional objectives.
“Over the years, we have partnered with like-minded corporate entities to drive sustainable and equitable healthcare initiatives, This has made it possible to access and impact underserved communities across the country,” said Dr Onyambu.
“We are not going to stop here, we want to keep on scalling with all the funds going to help in diagnosis, care and treatment for these children”.
