dyton mupawaenda
H-Metro Reporter
TEN children have undergone successful open-heart surgeries at a medical camp held at Parirenyatwa.
The operations, conducted by a team of specialist cardiothoracic surgeons from Parirenyatwa and Egypt, began on Monday.
The children, aged two years, suffered from congenital heart diseases, which, if left untreated, would have significantly impacted their quality of their lives.
The joint surgical team, led by Dr Hisham Shawky from Egypt and Dr Simukayi Machawira from Zimbabwe, worked seamlessly together to ensure the success of the operations.
“So, this is our first camp with the team from Egypt and I must say it was a very successful camp,”
Parirenyatwa specialist cardiothoracic surgeon Dr Machawira said.
“Our aim was to operate on at least 10 patients which amounts to two patients each day and we have managed to operate on 10 patients.
“This is where we have ended and I’m happy to inform you that all the patients are doing very well.
“They’ve managed to come from theatre without any mechanical ventilation so they are breathing for themselves.
“They need very little support and they are doing very well, so we are expecting that within the next week most of them will be going home.”
Dr Machawira said for every child born alive, one out of every 100 will have a congenital heart condition, which is amenable to surgical therapy.
“So, if we look at our group birth rate, we are looking at least 4,500 children born in Zimbabwe each year that have this condition,” he said.
“Cumulatively, because there have been very few surgeries done, it becomes quite a large number but I don’t have an exact figure of it at the moment.”
The lead surgeon from Cairo University Dr Shawky said:
“This mission was very exciting and we were very well prepared, It was very interesting to start here and they actually prepared the patients very well.
“Of course, we are here to teach and make them do better and perform better in different procedures and cardiac surgery.
“In the operating room and in the after operation so, definitely, our interaction with the Zimbabwean doctors was very positive.
“They are helping us in each step and we are helping them, so, it is a win-win situation for them and for us.”
Online Reporter