Wenslus Murape
Sharon Masocha
PARIRENYATWA Group of Hospitals this year performed 41 successful heart surgeries, marking the highest number of such operations conducted in a single year since 2016.
The institution is now making efforts to increase that number to between 100 and 150 next year.
The life-saving heart surgeries and the record-breaking year for the country’s largest medical referral centre highlight the strides being undertaken by the Second Republic led by President Mnangagwa in enhancing Zimbabwe’s healthcare infrastructure.
Before resumption of the complex medical procedure at the hospital, patients have had to travel to countries like India, Italy and South Africa for treatment.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals public relations officer Mr Terence Mautsi outlined the ambitious goals for the hospital’s cardiothoracic unit.
“Open-heart surgery has progressed this year. We have performed 41 surgeries in total. This is important, being the highest number performed per year in comparison to other years since 2016 and we are planning to double the number next year, resources permitting,” he said.
“The aim is for the unit to become a fully fledged one, which is able to fulfil national obligations, including teaching specialists, and this can only be possible by increasing the number of procedures done at the hospital.
“The hospital is aiming at having a 10-bed cardiothoracic ICU (intensive care unit) and HDU (high dependency unit); this will allow smooth functioning and we are engaged with at least three cardiothoracic units to train percussionists.”
According to Mr Mautsi, the cardiac specialists at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals are seeking to carry out at least 100 to 150 surgeries next year.
“The ideal number of patients to keep a single cardiothoracic surgeon competent, of 150 per year, has not been reached.
“There are many factors which contributed to us not reaching the target. There are times when we ran out of consumables and it took a long to procure due to the process involved. We had instances where the resources were available but patients failed to turn up due to fear.
“The patients need to be admitted into ICU after the procedure; unfortunately, we have one general ICU for the whole hospital. We should have an independent ICU for cardiothoracic surgery; this will allow us to function more effectively,” he said.
To enhance patient care, Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals is developing a broad database to track approximately 200 patients on the heart surgery waiting list.
“We have about 200 patients on the Parirenyatwa waiting list. Our patients are all over the country and being treated. Some are not aware that they need surgery. We are working to establish a comprehensive database. This will allow us to plan and advocate resources.
“The waiting period is not very long for the patients agreeable to surgery; it’s about six months,” Mr Mautsi said.
Apart from the 41 successful heart surgeries, two patients lost their lives due to postoperative complications.
“One patient developed an infection and succumbed almost two weeks after surgery and the other patient was bleeding postoperatively and unfortunately we were unable to secure the relevant blood products due to shortages,” he said.
“We aim to do at least 100 to 150 next year. We are engaging with the Ministry of Health and Child Care as our parent ministry, the hospital administration, sister hospitals, local industries and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) to reach our target.
“Surgical camps allow us to do more patients; the last camp we did 10 patients in a week, so we are planning to do more camps. We are engaged with other units in Africa to get personal training as percussionists,” said Mr Mautsi.
Also, 12 children were operated on successfully this year and 11 of the patients had congenital heart disease, whilst one had rheumatic heart disease.
The patients were discharged and are doing well.
The first open heart surgery to be conducted at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals since 2018 was on Ms Blessing Bonda (then 29) in June 2023.
After the operation, Ms Bonda, who suffered from a rheumatic heart condition, told The Sunday Mail that she was grateful the doctors had saved her life.
“As the first patient, I was afraid that the doctors would be experimenting on me. However, I want to thank the doctors because the operation was successful,” she said.
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