PRESS RELEASE: Rudolf, who is only 5 days old, needs life-saving heart surgery in Helsinki and in order for the little boy’s parents to be with his child the family is asking for the help of good people to cover travel and living expenses up to 3740 euros

The Estonian Health Insurance Fund pays for the child’s ambulance and helicopter transport. Medical expenses of little Rudolf at Children’s Hospital at Helsinki are also reimbursed by the health insurance. However as the boy stays in Helsinki for at least 3-4 weeks for treatments, a family with two small children must bear the accommodation and transport costs there and help is requested from the Children’s Fund of the University of Tartu Hospital.

Rudolf was born with a huge heart failure – his large blood vessels, pulmonary artery and aorta have changed their places. That’s why to save a child’s life, an operation must be performed during the first weeks of his life, which is not performed in Estonia. Rudolf will be taken to Children’s Hospital at Helsinki tomorrow where several other Estonian children with the same diagnosis have been successfully operated.

Unfortunately without this surgery 90% of children diagnosed with large artery transposition die in the first year of their life. During the operation (arterial switch operation or so-called arterial switching operation) the aorta and pulmonary artery are implanted in their “right place” and in 95% of cases the result of the operation is very good and the child can live a full life in the future.

If in the past families have been able to rent a room next to the hospital in a family accommodation and at a much more affordable price during the child’s hospital stay then in Covid19 conditions foreigners are not allowed to live there. The family has to pay more than 2000 euros for accommodation. There are also parents’ transport costs from Tallinn to Helsinki and back and also costs related to Covid testing.

According to Eveli Ilves, the head of the Children’s Fund’s support, Rudolf is already the fourth child this year, whose surgery is supported by the Children’s Fund: “It’s great Parents’ transport costs and on-site accommodation always come with unexpected outpatient treatment, and in the context of a global pandemic, there are a number of constraint-related costs: how to pay for unexpected expenses. Thank you for helping us! ”