Online Reporter
Wallace Ruzvidzo-Herald Reporter
A NEW lease of life beckons for children aged between 6 months and 10 years as a team of Egyptian cardiac specialists is in the country to perform life-transforming open heart surgeries together with local doctors this week.
The children set to be operated on mainly suffer from congenital heart defects which are heart abnormalities present at birth and can affect the walls of the heart, the valves or blood vessels.
At least 4 500 children are said to be born with a congenital heart disease each year in Zimbabwe.
This is the Egyptian specialist team’s second camp in Zimbabwe, after having successfully conducted open heart surgeries on 10 children last year.
Professor Hisham Shawky from Egypt and Dr Simukayi Machawira from Zimbabwe will lead the joint surgical team, with screening of children and at least one surgery having already been done.
Yesterday, Health and Child Care Deputy Minister Sleiman Kwidini together with Egypt’s Ambassador to Zimbabwe Ms Salwa Mowafi toured Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals to see children that had undergone surgery and those awaiting surgery.
In his remarks during the tour, Deputy Minister Kwidini said 10 children would be operated on this week.
“This year, in Open Heart Camp 2, we aim to operate on up to 10 children with cases drawn from near all provinces of Zimbabwe.
“This national reach is a testament to the incredible coordination by our own screening teams and the demand of such specialised care across the country.
“Each child represents a life change and each operation depends on our skills, defines our protocols, and builds the future of paediatric care in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The Deputy Minister said the partnership between Egyptian and Zimbabwean specialists was a bold demonstration of “African solutions to African challenges”.
He said it was also reflective of the cordial relations between Harare and Cairo.
“Today, we gather not merely to witness medical mission, but to celebrate a remarkable chapter in African cooperation as a tool of solidarity, skills sharing and saving lives. The second Open Heart, Camp 2 represents the deepening of ties between Zimbabwe and Egypt.
“Two nations united by shared values, a shared continent and now a shared heartbeat in giving children,” said Deputy Minister Kwidini.
Egyptian Professor Shawky said the surgeries provided children with heart diseases a sure shot at living a healthy and normal life.
“Heart surgery can change lives, it’s been said, and it’s been said to be true.
Deputy Minister Kwidini
“Congenital heart disease is not a one-man show, congenital heart disease is a programme with surgeons and orthopaedic surgeons and intensive care. It’s not like you come here to serve your needs, you have to treat people,” he said.
On her part, Ambassador Mowafi said Egypt was fully behind Zimbabwe in the field of medicine.
“I am here, actually, just to reflect the commitment of my government to the support of the Government of Zimbabwe in many fields of medicine and, of course, the medical services.
“We are here to help and we are happy to do that, we always believed that there is always African solutions for African challenges and for us, we always will be by the side of Zimbabwe, given the excellent relations that do exist between the two leadership, His Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and his brother, His Excellency President Mnangagwa, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe,” she said.
