5 hours Ago By New Zimbabwe
ZIMBABWE has successfully conducted open-heart surgeries on 10 children during a week-long medical camp held at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Harare. Each year, around 4,000 children in the country are born with congenital heart conditions that require open-heart surgery while the nation currently has a waiting list of between 500 and 600 adults with rheumatic heart disease in need of the medical procedure. The 10 surgeries were done by Egyptian and local cardiac specialists with support from Gift of Life International in collaboration with Rotarians, Harare Central, the government, National Oil and Infrastructure Company (NOIC), Avenues Clinic, Simbisa Brands, and other well-wishers.
Speaking to journalists Friday, open heart surgeon Dr Hisham Shawky said the successful procedures done on the 10 were only the start of a rolling programme. “We have done 10 cases; some were simple and straightforward, and others were really tough but all of them went well. “We have planned to start a sustainable programme, which we will be going on in the next few years and we have started to plan the next visit, either we do it around April, May or maybe July depending on funds availability.
“So, we will do at least one next year. This is not a once off programme,” Shawky said. Taflos Madondo from Mutare, one of the parents to a child who underwent the surgery expressed gratitude saying his family had failed to raise the money required to perform the surgery abroad.
“We are very pleased and grateful because of the assistance that we have received. We did not know where we were going to get the money to go for the treatment out of the country. “The child is two years old; she was born with the condition and was struggling with breathing.
She cannot even walk at her age, but we are expecting that after this operation she is going to be healed,” Madondo said. Another parent Maud Muvanga, whose daughter was suffering from a heart disease for six years, said her hopes were restored after the procedure. “My child has been battling a heart problem since she was three.
I am very happy and grateful for what these doctors have done for my child. I had lost hope, but now it is different,” Muvanga said. Many patients in Zimbabwe die of heart-relating ailments as they cannot afford to get treatment abroad with costs going up to as much as US$15,000.
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