Kikwete centre eases heart surgery burden

 

Outgoing president Jakaya Kikwete (left) embraces President-elect John Magufuli at a CCM rally in Dar es salaam, Tanzania on October 23, 2015. Several African leaders are due on Thursday, November 5, 2015 in the economic capital Dar es Salaam for Mr Magufuli’s swearing in. PHOTO | AFP

Daily News Reporter

NEARLY 500 patients in different parts of the country have their names in the growing list at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute in Dar es Salaam awaiting to be operated on this year.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily News on Saturday, the Acting Executive Director of Cardiology of the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI), Professor Mohamed Janabi, said that the 479 patients have already been diagnosed but there are thousands more with possible heart problems who have not been diagnosed.

“The youngest patient in the list is barely three weeks old. There are 366 children and 113 adults in the waiting list,” said Prof Janabi, adding that whichever way you look at it, the number is huge and the problem in the country is equally big.

“Members of the public need to realise that the government alone cannot bear the burden and they need to chip in,” he said. Professor Janabi said there was a dire need for more people to join health insurance schemes because whilst getting operated at the institute is far less than in India.

Operations at JKCI cost 8.5m/- while in India it is around 25m/- excluding other expenses tickets, escorts etc. Raising 8.5m/- is not an easy task to many, he said.

In connection with medical travel expenses to India for heart patients, the head said that in 2012 when they moved into the new building at the Muhimbili National Hospital, 159 patients were referred to India.

In 2013 the number was 198, the following year the number was 178 and in 2015 only 89 were referred bringing the total from 2012 to 2015 to 624.

An operation cost about 10,000 US dollars. “Excluding costs for air ticket and travelling with a family member, JKCI has saved the nation this year alone more than 5bn/-and spent 1.7bn/- last year to operate on the 206 patients,” he explained.

Prior to moving into the JKCI facility, cardiac operations started in 2008 at MOI where on average between 50 and 56 operations were conducted annually because there were only four beds in the Intensive Care Unit.

After moving into the new facility in 2012, a total of 394 adults and children have been operated on but in 2015 a revolution started and so far 206 operations have been conducted.

This is equivalent to a 329 per cent increase because of two working theatres, one Cath laboratory. The third theatre will be opened this year.

The institute has eight beds in the ICU and six more in the coronary care unit and 103 beds in the general wards.

Other achievements this year include the invitation of foreign experts (doctors) for in house hands on training from Madras Medical Mission (India),Almuntada (Saudi Arabia), Save A Childs Heart (Israel), Madaktari Africa (USA), Mending Kids Heart (USA) and Sharjah International (UAE) to assist in the operations.

The surgery procedure also involves device closure, a new procedure that doesn’t cut open the chest hence recovery is fast and reduces hospital stay.

The Institute also successfully operated on twins from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). “Since moving here, the death rate has only been 4.4 per cent and while every death is regrettable and should be avoided, this rate is not bad at all.

“Our experience at the centre is showing that the largest numbers of patients (66%) are those born with heart disease. Overall 85.8% of all patients were children under 18 years of age,” he said.

Apart from operations, Prof Janabi said that in 2015 they had performed 386 procedures in the special theater called Cath laboratory (there are two such machines in the country one here and the other in Aga Khan hospital) where there were 217 diagnostic catheterisations.

During the procedures plastic tubes were inserted to unblock nerves, 19 pacemakers were placed, 29 percutaneous coronary interventions were performed and 17 balloon valvuloplasties and eight fluoroscopist procedures were performed.

Regarding outpatient and admitted patients, in 2012 they attended 4,960 outpatients, in 2013 (12,729), in 2014 (22,000) and until November 2015 the count tipped 25,636.

In 2014 a total of 1,491 were admitted and until November last year, the number was 2, 242. This shows the JKCI continues to expand both in capacity building and service provision.

Prof Janabi said that the heart disease burden in the country is huge and that the government needs to revive educational campaigns on the importance of good nutrition, the importance of pregnant women going to clinics and getting their children vaccinated, the need for physical exercises, hazards of tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption.