MISSION
STATEMENT
"Programa
de Cirugia de Torax y Cardiovascular" (PCTCV) is an assistance program
for indigent patients, which has its origins in the medical mission
work of Efrain and Maria Montesinos, under the umbrella of the
Peruvian American Medical Society (PAMS). Programa de Cirugia de Torax y
Cardiovascular, which translates: "Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Program," was founded
on November 30, 1998, and performed its first operation
on February
11, 1999.
The most important
reason for the foundation of PCTCV was the fact that 18 million
Peruvians had no health insurance, and were unable to pay for
expensive heart surgery. The government hospitals available to the
uninsured were only able to operate on 10% of the children with
congenital heart
disease that come to the "Instituto Nacional de
Enfermedades del Nino." In addition, there were no cardiac surgical
facilities available for
adults in the government hospitals
nationwide for the poor diagnosed with either congenital or acquired
heart disease. The only option was medical
therapy and natural
progression of the disease,
until death. The desperate situation of these patients and
their families was the main reason for the
foundation of
PCTCV. The
long-term goal of PCTCV has been to equip, organize and prepare medical
and ancillary personnel, and to secure a solid,
efficient, and
permanent, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Program. An important
factor in achieving this goal was the training of new surgeons,
nurses, and other healthcare workers. Permanence is vital to the
continued health care of the poor with surgical heart
problems.
The driving force behind the establishment of PCTCV is
the husband and wife team of Dr. Efrain and Mrs. Maria
Montesinos. Dr. Montesinos
retired
from his medical practice in the United States, and returned
to Peru out of a desire to give back to his country.
