Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute conducts free open heart surgeries at KATH
The Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi in collaboration with Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute in Guangzhou, China have started conducting free open heart surgeries for fifteen people and fix heart pace makers on ten others with serious heart diseases.
A 10-member Chinese team which is in Kumasi for two weeks has also donated medical consumables, cardio medication and equipment valued at $ 200,000 to the Cardio Unit of KATH.
Last month, a team from Boston Children’s Hospital in the USA operated on six children with head complications while their Ghanaian counterpart from KATH also operated on seven othera bringing the number of children who benefited from the free open heart surgeries to 13.
Briefing the media, the Chief Executive officer of the Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute who also doubles as the Chairman of the Cardiovascular Surgery Board of China and the head of the Chinese team, Dr Zhuang Jian, said the collaboration was to exchange ideas and build the capacity of their Ghanaian counterparts.
He said heart related diseases was on the increase and that in his province alone in China, they conducted 4,800 open hearts surgery on persons with hearts problems and believed that with Ghana also experiencing development it would be having similar increase in cardiovascular complications.
The Director of Administration, Mr George Tetteh who spoke on behalf of the Chief Executive of KATH commended the Chinese team for their generosity and support which would help to build the capacity of the Ghanaian doctors to save lives.
On his part, the head of the Cardio Unit at KATH, Dr Isaac Kofi Owusu, said there had been increasing cases of cardio vascular diseases but the hospital had been stabilising these conditions through management with drugs.
He said the open heart surgery would be used to correct the defects whiles those whose heart could not produce the needed electricity to pump accurately would have pace makers to assist them.
He said the desire of the hospital was to establish its own Cardio centre and threat all such heart complications and expressed the hope that institutions and other philanthropic organisations would lend a hand when in the realisation of the dream.
