PENANG, Wed,- When 11- years –old Pream Reak’s parents took him to the Angkor Hospital for children in Siem Reap, Cambodian, to treat his deformed feet earlier this year, doctors discovered that he had congenital heart disease.

Had it not been for this chance discovery and the Gift of Life programme, Pream Reak would now not be at the Penang Adventist Hospital for a free surgery to close the hole between the two lower chamber of his heart.

Pream Reak is here with five other Cambodian children; Roeun Phirum, three, Tau Socheata, eight, Chhum Sary,11, Lay Sothea , 14, and Suy Pheak,16.

They form the sixth group of children who have been brought to Malaysia by the Cambodian airline, Royal Air Cambodge, to undergo heart surgery at the hospital.

Tau Socheata, Lay Sothea, 14, and Suy Pheak were suffering from atrial septal defect – which a hole between the two upper heart blood vessels did not close after birth.

The condition of the two other girls is known as patent ductus arteriosus – an open connection between two heart vessels which did not close after birth.

Tau Socheata and Suy Pheak underwent surgery two days ago.

The Gift Of Life programme, an initiative of Rotary International, the Rotary Club of Penang and the hospital, has since last year benefited children from Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

Under the programme, Rotary International pays US$2,000 (RM7,600) while the remaining amount is raised from the public donations channeled to the PAH Hearts Patients’ Fund and the Rotary Club of Penang.