Focus Media (Kigali)
Sam Ruburika
30 November 2008
A team of Australian and Belgian specialists, assisted by local medical staff, is carrying out a series of free heart surgeries. So far, 24 patients have been operated.
Dr. Joseph Mucumbitsi, chairman of the Rwanda Heart Foundation: "We expect to educate Rwandans on how best to avoid preventable heart diseases." (file photo)
15-year old Alexis Furaha has not been able to go to school for two years. He had a problem with his heart valves, which made him constantly cough and left him exhausted all the time. He was one of the beneficiaries of a series of heart surgeries performed at King Faisal hospital by a team of Australian and Belgian doctors.
"I thank God that now my heart has been treated," Furaha said, adding that he had lost hope of ever getting treatment.
The ongoing series of operations is the fourth of its kind. The program is a collaboration between the ministry of health and the voluntary teams from Operation Open Heart (OOH) from Australia and Chain of Hope from Belgium, as well as the Brigham and Women's Hospital located in Boston USA. The cost of the operations and successive treatment is shared by Minisante and King Faisal Hospital
According to the chairman of the Rwanda Heart Foundation, Dr. Joseph Mucumbitsi who is a pediatrician at King Faisal, since its inception in 2006 the heart surgery program has so far managed to operate 77 people who had heart-related complications.
"In Rwanda, heart diseases among children are relatively common, particularly problems with the heart valves and problems caused by birth defects," Mucumbitsi said.
He pointed out that during this year's program, there will not only be open heart surgery, but also for the second time interventional catheterization which allows treatment of the heart without opening the chest. So far, the team has operated 24 patients, 16 of whom had open heart surgery and 8 closed heart surgery.
The heart operation program is expected to continue over the next years. "We will continue to offer support by performing heart operations to patients," said Dr. Andrew Bullock, a cardiologist who heads the Australian team.
15 years of training
In order to carry out the operations, King Faisal hospital has obviously had to obtain some specialized equipment. For instance, through donations it has acquired a bypass pump, which is essential in performing open heart surgeries. "The bypass pump costs one million dollars, so we are lucky to have such equipment," Dr. Mucumbitsi said.
He further said that the heart operations by the voluntary teams have reduced costs of sending patients abroad for treatment. "It costs between US$ 8,000 and US$ 10,000 to send patients for treatment to India," the doctor explained.
The program also aims at building local capacity-local physicians and nurses' involvement in the heart operations is set to increase their experience and skills. However, according to Russell Lee, the coordinator of the OOH program in Rwanda, it takes between 5 to 15 years for somebody to attain full capacity.
"We have been working in South East Asia in the past years, and though it took them about 10 years, now they have the necessary capacity to perform heart operations on their own," Lee said.
Yet he added that with the will of learning shown by the Rwandan physicians, it might take less time, but insisted it will require them to go abroad for further studies so as to gain the necessary qualifications and expertise.
"Rwanda should select key professionals to go abroad for further studies, and Rwanda can be able to perform heart surgeries in 3 years," Russell Lee said.
Currently, King Faisal has only one doctor from Uganda who can perform closed heart surgery.
Preventable
Concerning the state of heart disease in the country, Dr Mucumbitsi said that there has not yet been a countrywide survey to determine the extent of the heart disease, but that he had managed to collect data of about 300 children with heart-related diseases.
However, given that worldwide 1 in 1000 children is born with a heart disease, Rwanda evidently will have its share of patients. However, according to Dr. Mucumbitsi most of the heart diseases he had come across in the country are preventable by adopting a healthy lifestyle.
On the other side, special sensitization programs are to be set up to teach the public the best ways of avoiding preventable heart-related diseases.
This program is set to involve all health centers so as to benefit as many people as possible. "Through this program we expect to educate Rwandans on how best to avoid preventable heart diseases," Dr. Mucumbitsi said.
Moreover, the ministry of health has committed itself to establish a cardiac center of excellence within five years.
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