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Ukraine, war and cardiac surgical practice: correspondence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2022

Amnuay Keebayoon
Affiliation:
Private Academic Consultant, Samroang, Cambodia
Rujittika Mungmunpuntipantip*
Affiliation:
Private Academic Consultant, Bangkok, Thailand
Viroj Wiwanitkit
Affiliation:
Department of Community Medicine, Dr DY Patil University, Pune, India
*
Author for correspondence: Rujittika Mungmunpuntipantip, Private Academic Consultant, 11 Bangkok 112, Bangkok 103300, Thailand. Tel: +6622564567 Ext 88; Fax: +6622564567 Ext 88; Email: rujittika@gmail.com
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Abstract

Type
Letter to the Editor
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Dear Editor, we read the publication on “Ukraine: a cardiac surgical perspective.” Reference Novick, Mavroudis, Jacobs and Karl1 War is an unwanted occurrence that has the potential to wreak havoc on the healthcare system. According to Novick et al., “Lost in this pandemonium are children in need of immediate medical attention.” Reference Novick, Mavroudis, Jacobs and Karl1 “All military initiatives are tremendously resource-intensive, and the patients that we all live to aid, as well as their healthy contemporaries, are therefore severely disadvantaged.” It is feared that new health concerns, such as disease outbreaks, would emerge as a result of the present conflict in Ukraine, and that many people will suffer. Reference Mungmunpuntipantip and Wiwanitkit2 We would like to share some prior experiences from our area. A protracted, decades-long battle rages throughout Indochina. All medical facilities were destroyed during the war, and there was no standard surgical care. Despite the lack of data on paediatric sickness throughout the conflict, research among refugees reveals that it was a major concern. According to a study on paediatric refugees in the United States of America, Hmong boys and Cambodian and Hmong girls had higher mean diastolic blood pressures than blacks and whites of the same sexes. Reference Munger, Gomez-Marin, Prineas and Sinaiko3 It has been suggested that hypertension and associated cardiovascular disease could become a major issue among Southeast Asian refugees. Reference Munger, Gomez-Marin, Prineas and Sinaiko3 For refugees, access to health care is frequently a problem. The language barrier became the greatest challenge for paediatric refugees getting proper health treatment, according to an Australian study of Indochina war refugees. Reference Munger, Gomez-Marin, Prineas and Sinaiko3 Some patients sought non-standard alternative care instead of standard care. The lessons learned from our experiences in Indochina can be used to emphasise the significance of having a plan in place to deal with any potential paediatric cardiovascular problems among the current Ukraine refugees. Last, we hope that peace will return to Ukraine soon

Acknowledgements

None.

Financial support

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflict of interest

None.

References

Novick, WM, Mavroudis, C, Jacobs, JP, Karl, TR. Ukraine: a cardiac surgical perspective. Cardiol Young Apr 2022; 25: 1513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mungmunpuntipantip, R, Wiwanitkit, V. Science, war and current disease outbreak. Science Mar 2022; 375: 1071. DOI 10.1126/science.abp8817 Google Scholar
Munger, RG, Gomez-Marin, O, Prineas, RJ, Sinaiko, AR. Elevated blood pressure among Southeast Asian refugee children in Minnesota. Am J Epidemiol 1991; 133: 12571265.10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115837CrossRefGoogle Scholar