THE first ever heart bypass surgery
in the East African Region has been conducted in Tanzania, courtesy of
Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) and a team of doctors from a
leading Indian (New Delhi-based) BLK Super Specialty Hospital – a
blessing in disguise for 18 patients battling cardiac complications.
According to a cardiologist at the JKCI,
Dr Bashir Nyangasa, heart by-pass surgeries allow doctors to operate on
the heart of a patient as it beats, unlike the standard one where
doctors are forced to stop the patient’s heart until the surgery is
completed.
Before the new technology for treating
people with heart complications, the JKCI used to conduct surgery by
using a heart lung machine that forces cardiologists to stop patients
from breathing until the process is completed.
The visiting team and doctors from JKCI
started offering by-pass surgery at the country’s leading cardiac centre
in Dar es Salaam yesterday -- and the two-day joint exercise is
expected to be accomplished today, according to Head of the Cardiology
Unit at the JKCI, Dr Peter Kisenge. Dr Kisenge told a news conference in
Dar es Salaam yesterday that within two days, his institute would help
the country to save 180m/-, which would have been spent by 18 patients
if they opted to travel outside the country for treatment.
“Performing a heart by-pass surgery
costs 27m/- for a single patient abroad and if a patient decides to
undergo such surgery in Tanzania, he/she will have to pay between 8m/-
and 10m/-,’’ he said. Instead of sawing the breast-bone apart, surgeons
can now simply bore two holes through it and put the by-pass in place.
The entire operation lasts about 60 minutes and the patient can be
discharged on the following day.
The Executive Director of JKCI,
Professor Mohammed Janabi, said that as of yesterday, about 12 patients
with heart ailment had been operated and that they were responding to
treatment well. The pilot exercise is targeting 18 patients, according
to him.
At the same time, JKCI and BLK Super
Speciality Hospital signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a
partnership to share the vast experience across specialties and to build
healthcare capacities locally.
To achieve this, the New Delhi-based
hospital intends to provide training to doctors from Tanzania in the
Indian capital and regularly send teams of eminent doctors from India to
Tanzania to work with a team of cardiologists at JKCI as well as
perform complicated surgeries.
“Technically, we are far beyond other
countries in the provision of health care and we have been providing at
least 3,000 open heart surgeries a year. Therefore, we are optimistic
that the Tanzanian doctors will be able to learn more from us as we will
similarly be able to learn as well from them through this
partnership,’’ said the Chairman and Head of Cardiology Heart Centre at
BLK Hospital, Dr Subhash Chandra.
According to Dr Kisenge, for the third
time, specialists from both countries continued performing Balloon
Mitral Valvotomy (BMV). Besides the BMV, both teams performed
interventional procedures at JKCI in October last year.
All the procedures were performed in
partnership, as part of an effort for JKCI and BLK Super Specialty
Hospital to work together to build capacities in cardiology in Tanzania.
BLK Super Specialty Hospital has so far expressed commitment to work in
partnership with hospitals across Africa to share its vast experience
across specialties to build healthcare capacities locally.
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