Pediatric heart diseases, especially heart defects, are treatable in childhood.

The Pediatric Heart Surgery Center at Al-Makassed Hospital was established in 2003 and is the first unit of its kind in Palestine to provide such treatment in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The services provided by the center include:

1- Surgical treatment of heart defects in children.

2- Medical treatment of heart diseases in children.

3- Interventional treatment of heart diseases in children.

4- Treatment of heart diseases in children in the pediatric intensive care unit.

The pediatric intensive care unit includes ten fully equipped beds, and the unit has a special room for performing open heart surgeries for children. The unit also has an independent and separate machine for performing cardiac shunt surgeries.

The pediatric heart surgery unit is headed by Dr. Nizar Hajjah, a pediatric heart surgery specialist.

The Heart Surgery Center at Al-Makassed Hospital in occupied Jerusalem covers the needs of patients in Palestine from the occupied West Bank and the territories occupied in 1948, as well as 65 percent of patients from the Gaza Strip. In addition, it has provided treatment to patients from Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Emirates, making it a historic achievement for Palestine and placing it in an advanced position comparable to Europe and even Israeli hospitals.

Two years ago, the center introduced the (ECMO) technique, which is an artificial heart and lung used for between four days and two weeks to stimulate the heart or lung and restore blood pumping to them, with the intervention of treatment, surgery and others to save the lives of children.

The center's staff performs (beating heart) operations; The presence of this technology in Al-Makassed Hospital is a very important development that will spare Palestinian patients the need to be transferred abroad. Keeping the heartbeat constant during the operation without stopping protects the child from his body temperature dropping to 18, and protects him from the complications that accompany traditional operations, the success rate of which is 50%, while the success rate of the operation with the new technology exceeds 90%.