A TEAM of volunteers fluent in the Tibetan language was on hand at Shanghai Children’s Hospital yesterday to welcome a group of 15 youngsters from the southwest region who are soon to undergo heart surgery.

The children, aged 4 months to 10 years, traveled with their families from the city of Xigaze in the Tibet Autonomous Region under a charitable scheme that provides medical procedures for youngsters with congenital heart defects.

Niu Jun, an official at the hospital, said the volunteers were recruited to help put the children at their ease.