St Kitts and Nevis: PALS assists 56 children to get life-saving pediatric care in 2023

St Kitts and Nevis: The Pediatric Assistance League (PALS) of St Kitts and Nevis announced that in 2023, it assisted 56 children from across the country in accessing specialized paediatric care unavailable in the Federation. While announcing the development, PALS said that these children included a one-year-old boy and a two-year-old boy who had heart surgery, a 9-year-old boy who had brain shunt surgery, a 7-year-old boy who had a severe brain infection, a 16-year-old who had extensive hip surgery, and many more.

According to the Impact Report released by the PALS, the statistics of children who were assisted are as follows:

• Eight children needed urgent life-saving treatment overseas
• Ten children required non life-threatening overseas surgery
• Two children were in need of extended medical treatment overseas
• Nine children required ongoing monitoring and future treatment
• 18 children required follow-ups from previous overseas surgeries
• Nine children were newly diagnosed and scheduled for surgery in 2024

The children are sent for surgeries in several countries outside St Kitts and Nevis including Cayman Islands, Barbados, Trinidad, Miami to name a few.

In 2024, PALS has already assisted seven children with overseas medical treatment, 29 children with evaluations by Paediatric Specialists and a further ten children scheduled for overseas medical treatment within the next two months.

PALS is a nonprofit charity of volunteers committed to helping families of St Kitts and Nevis access specialized paediatric care unavailable in the Federation. It is working in collaboration with the Government of St Kitts and Nevis to provide assistance to children requiring urgent medical treatment abroad.

While urging parents to seek assistance from PALS, the officials said that for a child to receive assistance, a referral must be made by a medical doctor in St Kitts and Nevis along with full medical reports.

“We are not doctors so the PALS team depends on the guidance and recommendations of the local medical community as well as our overseas partner paediatric charities, hospitals and paediatric specialists,” it added.

The authorities also added that they wish they could guarantee an answer and cure for every sick child, but they are fully dependent on the response and medical advice of overseas specialists.

They further noted, “The difficult reality is that there are some heartbreaking cases where PALS cannot assist because overseas specialists and hospitals have determined that a child has a complex medical condition that is inoperable, untreatable or uncurable.”

In addition to this, they also thanked everyone who has been supporting PALS and the families of sick children of St Kitts and Nevis.