Mending all sorts of hearts

So far this week at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) our Open Heart International (OHI) team, whilst mentoring their local collegues have preformed 18 cases – 7 adults and 11 childrens’s heart mended!!! WOO HOO! Healing 18 poeple and saving lives is a tremendous week’s work!

This week I’ve heard medical terms describing the varied heart conditions our Doctors are helping and training the local team to diagnose and cure, such as, rheumatic heart disease, aortic regurgitation, prolapse of the coronary cusp, heart failure due to massive hole between lower chambers, hole in heart and tetralogy of fallot not to mention the patients come in all shapes and sizes.

I am learning to recognise symptoms of some critically ill children with tetralogy of fallot (TOF) whom I’ve met on the ward – blue lips from lack of oxygen, club fingers, skinny, small for their age, failure to thrive, and sometimes breathless.

As explained by two lovely nurses, Kiasha and Dominique this morning (pictures below), TOF children instinctively learn to squat. It’s in order redirect their blood supporting their blood pressure. These kids are equally as engaging and precious as my boys at home. Ideal treatment, available under our health care in Australia,is a surgical repair before the age of one. Without any diagnosis or treatment, the heart muscle progressively fails.

Kiasha explained that “For many Tanzanian’s living in rural communities the lack of primary health care means that by the time these patients are identified and make their way to JKCI and are then diagnosed, they are too sick and their bodies cannot survive the most developed surgery. It becomes too late for us to do anything about it.”

I trust that Open Heart International can continue this important training and program in this beautiful country so that as the local team expands both in size and experience one day sooner rather than later more children will be treated more often than not.

Darren Wolfers our project coordinator shared some great news this afternoon. Himself and Professor Janabi met with the Tanzanian Minister of Health and visited the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). With some encouragement, a commitment was made to fund more educational training for JKCI’s local surgeon Dr Hussenali.

So far this week at the Jakay Kikwete Cardiac Institute our OHI surgical team, whilst mentoring their local colleagues,.has performed 18 open heart operations – 7 adults’ and 11 children’s hearts mended!!! WOO HOO! Healing 18 people and saving lives is a tremendous week’s work! The Intensive Care Unit is full steam ahead and our expert ICU nurses are continuing to rise to the challenge.