The new machine for the diagnosis and endoscopic treatment of paediatric gastroenterological diseases, donated by our Group in collaboration with the Vicenza for Children Association, was delivered to the Paediatric Surgery Ward of San Bortolo Hospital in Vicenza.

Our donation will enrich the ward at the San Bortolo with new technologies, enabling the Paediatric Surgery Unit to improve the digestive endoscopy activity. The beneficiaries will be young patients who, from the day they are born up to the age of eighteen, will be able to receive treatment with a minimally invasive surgical approach. In daily practice, this translates into the treatment of various pathological conditions in which the application of advanced digestive endoscopy is important in congenital malformations of the gastrointestinal tract, in patients with severe feeding difficulties who require nutritional support through artificial routes, and in children who suffer from acute or chronic gastro-oesophageal reflux either congenitally or as a result of previous surgery.

Numerous pathologies can be diagnosed and treated in a less invasive manner. The new machine offers a marked improvement in image quality, increasing the diagnostic and therapeutic precision of the hospital’s paediatric surgeons, with the ultimate aim of providing young patients with a higher level of care.

The Children’s Surgical Ward of Vicenza’s San Bortolo Hospital is the Regional, Italian and European Centre of Reference for Minimally Invasive Paediatric Surgery and Urology. Besides teaching at local universities, the Director, Dr Salvatore Fabio Chiarenza, and his team of surgeons hold positions as lecturers in masters degrees and university courses in Minimally Invasive Surgery both nationally and internationally (US, Egypt, South America).

Supporting the local area and providing access to medical care have always been part of the social responsibility goals of our Group, which has supported the San Bortolo Hospital in various initiatives over the years. For this project, financed entirely by us with the support of our suppliers, our company has collaborated once again with Vicenza for Children, a non-profit organisation made up of volunteers who offer their time and assistance to sick children, contributing to the purchase of medicines and electro-medical instruments. Vicenza for Children received the “Association of the Year” award for the province of Vicenza in 2023.

The inauguration was attended by representatives of the various stakeholders, including Santo and Giovanna Mastrotto for our Group, Alberto Girardi and Anna Astarita for Vicenza for Children, Cristiano Finco, Health Director of ULSS 8 Berica, and the Director of the Children’s Surgical Ward of Vicenza’s San Bortolo Hospital, Salvatore Fabio Chiarenza.

Santo Mastrotto, founder of our Group together with his brother Bruno, had this to say about the initiative: “For years, we as a company have been committed to implementing and supporting initiatives aimed at the collective health of our territory, which also includes equal access to healthcare for all. With the decision to equip the paediatric surgery ward of the San Bortolo Hospital with a new machine capable of significantly limiting the invasiveness of certain diagnoses and therapies, we wanted to resolutely express our practical contribution to the care and wellbeing of the youngest and, therefore, most fragile patients. I also take this opportunity to thank our suppliers, who have chosen to support this project by contributing a donation in place of traditional Christmas gifts”.

“This year we are celebrating our tenth anniversary as a Foundation” – says Alberto Girardi, President of Vicenza for Children – “and we are delighted to do so with this project shared with Gruppo Mastrotto, which has been supporting the San Bortolo Hospital for years, just as we do, both with donations and with the presence of numerous volunteers (whom we hope will grow in number) alongside the children and their families. Over the last 10 years we have donated specialised medical equipment, instruments and materials, including the first “Bambiambulanza”, a mobile paediatric resuscitation unit, and more, to the value of around 1.2 million euro.”

 “Digestive endoscopy has made extraordinary progress in recent years,” emphasizes Cristiano Finco, Health Director of ULSS 8 Berica, “and it continues to find increasingly broader applications, both in terms of the types of pathologies treated and the complexity of cases: in fact, today it is possible to perform endoscopically procedures that until a few years ago could only be done surgically. The benefits for patients are well known, in terms of reduced postoperative pain and generally more timely recovery, and these factors are of course all the more important in pediatric patients, as they also help to reduce the emotional trauma related to the surgery. For years, Pediatric Surgery at San Bortolo has been a benchmark in minimally invasive surgery, and this donation further raises the technological standards of an already excellent department.”

“The evolution of paediatric surgery over the years has always aimed at reducing invasiveness, with the primary aim being to reduce pain in children. The children’s surgical ward at San Bortolo’s, a pioneer in minimally invasive techniques for more than 20 years, is always fully up-to-date and at the state-of-the-art and, with this in mind, advanced digestive endoscopy (which acts through the endocorporeal cavities) becomes an increasingly important ally in the early diagnosis and treatment of medical and especially surgical pathologies in children”, says Doctor Salvatore Fabio Chiarenza, Director of the Children’s Surgical Ward at the San Bortolo Hospital in Vicenza. “I really must thank Gruppo Mastrotto, together with the Vicenza for Children association, for their outstanding support. It is of enormous help, not only for the Children’s Surgical Ward but also, and most importantly, for our young patients”.