BEIJING, Sept. 18 -- Fourteen children from southwest China's Tibet autonomous region arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to receive free surgery to treat their congenital heart disease.

The children were selected from 54 afflicted children in Lhasa after meeting surgery criteria, said Xie Xianghui, deputy director of Lhasa's Health Bureau.

The children will receive their surgery at the Beijing Anzhen Hospital and Beijing Children's Hospital.

Seventeen provinces and cities, as well as several Chinese companies, are providing free medical aid to Tibetan children with congenital heart disease as part of a medical program established by the regional Health Department in April 2012.

The incidence of child congenital heart disease in Tibet is 10 times higher than other parts of China due to the region's high elevation, said Gu Hong, deputy director of the children's heart disease center at the Beijing Anzhen Hospital.