A new angiography room has been opened at the Children's Memorial Health Institute (CZD) in Warsaw. It was made possible thanks to the money collected during the 30th Grand Finale of the Grand Orchestra of Christmas Charity (GOCC) in 2022. The brand new biplane angiography machine offers a highly effective retinoblastoma treatment method. Retinoblastoma is a malignant tumor of the developing retina that occurs in children, usually before age five years.
The Children's Memorial Health Institute is the largest and best-equipped institute of paediatric healthcare in Poland. Located in Warsaw and directly subordinate to Poland's Ministry of Healthcare, it is also one of leading teaching hospitals in Poland.
Jurek Owsiak, the chairman of the board of the GOCC Foundation, took part in the opening of the angiography room at the hospital.
"We've completed our task in flying colors. During the 30th Finale, which was devoted to treating children with eye defects, we purchased for 8.7 million zlotys a device called a biplane angiography machine," he said.
Owsiak added that children at the CZD would not have to wait anymore for "this state-of-the-art device which treats cancer and saves sight".
Angiography machine
The GOCC said the new device is a state-of-the-art biplane angiography machine which allows for vascular examination and surgery in the field of interventional radiology, including intra-arterial chemotherapy for retinoblastoma, cardiovascular surgery and children's cardiology.
The intra-arterial chemotherapy is the latest and highly effective method of retinoblastoma treatment. This method is available in very few clinics across the globe. The Children's Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw is so far the first and the only hospital in Poland which offers this kind of treatment.
The 30th Grand Finale
During the 30th Grand Finale - held in January 2022 under the slogan "See the light" - the GOCC raised a sum of PLN 224,376,706.35. During the jubilee fundraiser, volunteers from all over the world were collecting money to support the highest standards of children’s eye treatment and diagnosis in the country. It was the first Grand Finale focused on the most important human sense.
In 2023, the charity managed to collect an astonishing sum of 243,259,387,25 zlotys - which has become the new record.
Since the it's inception in 1993, the GOCC has collected over 1.75 billion zlotys to support Polish health care and purchased over 70,000 pieces of medical equipment.
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, tvnwarszawa.pl
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: TVN24