Five Beijing hospitals are starting operations and treatment on more than 150 children from minority ethnic groups diagnosed with congenital heart disease.

The program was launched by China Charity Federation in February 2011.

Under the program, hospitals in Beijing and Guangzhou have been dispatching doctors to monitor congenital heart disease among more than 200,000 children in areas, including the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Tibet autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

The program has covered surgery expenses for 1,716 children diagnosed with the disease so far.

Twenty-eight-year-old Yang Meiying from Guizhou province said she took her 7-year-old daughter with congenital heart disease to Beijing in May 20, and her daughter will undergo the surgery in the Chinese PLA General Hospital soon.

"I’m very grateful that the program will cover the surgery expense,” she said.

Feng Haiqing, an official from the health bureau of Shannan, the Tibet autonomous region, said the government of the autonomous region started a campaign to provide medical treatment for people under 18 with congenital heart disease.

According to the statistics provided by the Air Force General Hospital, one of the five hospitals treating the children, China has more than 2 million children living with congenital heart disease, most of whom reside in remote and underdeveloped areas. The number is increasing at a rate of 120,000 a year.