Group photo of medical aid team [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As of July this year, 307 children with congenital heart disease had been saved through a medical aid project for children with congenital heart disease in Yunnan, founded by the China Overseas-Educated Scholars Development Foundation (COSDF).

The project is a public welfare program that the COSDF administers.

In 2012, Robert Charles Detrano, professor of cardiology at the University of California, volunteered to treat children with congenital heart disease in an impoverished area of Yunnan by using his own retirement income. The COSDF stepped in and offered to support Detrano and his team. The medical aid project for children with congenital heart disease in Yunnan started then and continues today.

In 2014, COSDF carried out routine training in congenital heart disease diagnosis and treatment for 0-6 year old children in order to improve the diagnostic rate at the population source. Up to the end of 2016, over 200,000 children were screened for the disease, and thousands of cases of the disorder were diagnosed. Almost 4,200 doctors from 11 states in Yunnan took part in the training.

In May this year, the medical aid project for children with congenital heart disease in Yunnan was named a 2017 supported project by the central finance department.