A 16-person Israeli surgical team arrived in north China's Hebei Province Friday to help children with heart defects, said the Israeli Embassy in China.

The team from an Israeli humanitarian project called "Save A Child's Heart" will first go to the Children's Hospital of Hebei Province and then to the Hospital Affiliated to the Gansu Provincial Medical University in northwest China's Gansu, on a 14-day tour of duty.

An embassy spokesman said the medical team was on its fifth visit to China since 1998. The team would operate on more than 20 children suffering congenital heart defects and run a three-day training course for over 50 medical workers.

The team has performed heart operations on about 50 patients from the two provinces, including two who were sent to Israel for surgical treatment.

The project was initiated by the late Dr. Amram Cohen in 1995. It is the world's largest humanitarian project to provide urgently-needed pediatric heart surgery and follow-up care and many services are free.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2003)