Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, June 27, 2026 – Nine children from Puerto Vallarta and nearby communities are receiving specialized treatment for congenital heart disease through the second Unidos de Corazón surgical campaign at Hospiten Vallarta.
The effort pairs Hospiten Puerto Vallarta with Ayuda a Corazón de Niño, A.C., a nonprofit that works on diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up for children with heart conditions. The campaign brings 15 volunteer specialists to the hospital for pediatric procedures that require advanced equipment, hospital coordination, and high-cost medical devices.
The children have conditions of different complexity. Some needed care before the disease advanced into harder-to-treat stages. Others came from families that had waited years for access to specialized treatment.
Specialized care close to home
Congenital heart disease is not a single diagnosis. It can include defects affecting valves, the walls of the heart, blood vessels, heart rhythm, or oxygen flow. Some cases can be monitored. Others need catheterization, surgery, medication, or a device.
That is why the campaign is more than a one-week hospital event. It connects families to a care pathway that many cannot reach on their own.
The Unidos de Corazón alliance includes Ayuda a Corazón de Niño, Amigos de los Niños de Cabo San Lucas, Terumo, Philips, and Hospiten Vallarta, with support from Masimo, DDM, and Fundación Derechos de la Infancia. The first Puerto Vallarta edition helped 15 children in 2025. This year’s round confirms nine pediatric patients, bringing the local program’s reach to at least 24 children across two editions.
Hospiten has described the campaign as “still insufficient” compared with the number of children waiting for care. That is the most useful line in the public statement, because it keeps the focus on the gap between diagnosis and treatment.
The larger pediatric heart-care gap
Mexico sees thousands of new congenital heart cases each year. A medical review on neonatal cardiac screening in Mexico estimated congenital heart disease at about 1 percent of births, or 18,000 to 20,000 cases annually. About one-quarter are considered serious.
The same review noted that Mexico made neonatal cardiac screening mandatory in 2021, with the goal of finding critical heart defects before newborns leave the hospital. Jalisco was also listed among the early states involved in cardiac newborn screening work before the national rule.
Screening can help find a risk, but families still need an echocardiogram, a pediatric cardiologist, hospital space, the right device or surgical team, and follow-up care. That is where campaigns like Unidos de Corazón fill a local gap.
More equipment in Vallarta, but demand remains
Hospiten announced in April that its work with Ayuda a Corazón de Niño included new high-specialty technology in Puerto Vallarta, including a hemodynamics room and upgraded echocardiography equipment. The hospital said the broader partnership had handled more than 350 pediatric cardiac cases across Hospiten sites in Los Cabos, Cancún, and Puerto Vallarta.
Puerto Vallarta is still waiting on longer-term public hospital capacity, including the civil hospital project that local officials have presented with an early focus on maternal and child care.
