ZAMBIAN doctors based in New Zealand under the Mutima Project have carried out successful heart operations on seven patients from the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in collaboration with Cardiac Trust Zambia.
And the UTH is next month expected to commission the upgraded phase three theatre, which will be dealing with complicated surgical cases.
Mutima Project trustee and founder member Munanga Mwandile said in Lusaka on April 1 the seven patients who underwent open-heart surgery involving the removal of tumours and replacement of valves are in stable condition.
Dr Mwandila said the Mutima Project will carry out surgery on 15 heart patients each year for the next five years.
He, however, said the team failed to meet the target of 15 patients because of certain constraints.
Bruce Bvulani, a consultant surgeon at UTH and a trustee at Cardiac Trust Zambia, said the organisation was formed in 2009 after its founders realised the need to fight heart disease in Zambia.
Dr Bvulani said the country has been spending huge sums of money in treating heart conditions.
He said the trust and Fairview Hospital are hosting Mutima Project in the country to help treat patients with heart diseases, and build capacity in local health personnel in the long run.
Dr Bvulani said theatres that will be later used at UTH are still under repair, and equipment procurement by Government is still underway, which was why the operations were conducted at Fairview Hospital, which has the facilities.
Cardiac Trust Zambia board member Augustine Seyuba said the collaboration with Fairview Hospital and Mutima Project is a good example of how the public and private sectors could partner to improve the well-being of the people of Zambia.
Mr Seyuba said the trust is working with other health institutions and Government to set up a cardiac unit.
He urged people living in the diaspora to emulate Mutima Project by contributing their time and resources to the improvement of health facilities in Zambia.
Fairview Hospital head of business development and corporate marketing Timothy Katenga said the hospital aims at complementing Government with facilities and services because treating heart diseases can be expensive.
And UTH managing director Luckson Kasonka has said the upgraded theatre will deal with complicated cases, including heart, brain and kidney transplants.
Dr Kasonka said in an interview in Lusaka on April 1 he is happy that for the first time in the history of the country, UTH will have a more advanced theatre compared to other African countries.
He said Government is currently installing modern equipment in the theatre to begin conducting complicated surgical operations.
“We are currently upgrading theatres in all health institutions in the country. Let me also inform the nation that on April 12, we will commission the phase three theatre, which will deal with complicated surgical cases.
“Management is making frantic efforts to ensure that operations at the health institution improve,” he said.
[Zambia Daily Mail]
Commendable effort by true patriots, this is the type of patriotism expected from THE POLITICAL ELITE, that seem to have no iota of understanding of TRUE PATRIOTISM!!!
But i thot you shud have started with FTJ!!!
Continue the good work.And may others,even in other professions,emulate!!!
That is what is called having a heart for one’s country. Keep it up!
And that gentleman Mr Seyuba could easily have been in the political arena like many do, but he has chosen charitable work, commendable.
Way to go countrymen, actions speak louder than words.!
Dr. Mwandile and team you exhibit selfless attitude and may the Lord grant you more wisdom and prosperity so that you can continue to bless others and touch more lives.
Well done Mutima project i know it is not easy to do what you have but am very positive that more successful trips are on the way.God bless you for you efforts.
Airtickets for the team 500,000,000.00; Hotel bills for 20 some pipo for a month 400,000,000.00; Seven patients in a private hospital 100,000,000.00. At the end of the day only seven are treated & no equipment or expertise left on the ground. Judge for yourselves if this is the way Zambia’s health sector must run!
And people are not even aware this was Zambian tax payer money. Surely there could be a better way beyond games.
#8,9 The evaluator
Seems you got data on this one please elaborate. Anyhow am proud i contributed in my small way to this project last time they appealed for help on this blog. Well done Mutima project.
Sometimes it is difficult to keep quiet when someone sees lies coming from professionals like UTH managing director Luckson Kasonka.
Zambians will only know that UTH has advanced medical equipments when MMD and other Zambian politicians stop going out of Zambia to seek medical care in South Africa and other countries where they pay huge sums of public money for their private personal health.
Good job, keep doing what is the best for our country since all politicians seem to be so ignorant about important issues like this or they uderstand patriotism.
The money absurdly spent on mobile hospitals could have gone a long way in modernising healthy delivery equipment in general, central UTH, and specialised hospitals. At this age, Govt using a Private Hospital. Shame on out Govt, just because they fly out to SA and India. This project must as well be audited if indeed tax payers money has been used for such a just cause. The Doctors’ sacrifice is commendable, but my worry is the rip offs from scavengers in Govt. Well Done Mutima Project, may God richly bless you for showing GRZ that we can do such surgeries on our soil, not only at Morningside.
VIVA Docs, thats the way to go
Well done to the Surgical team involved! ( Zambians & kiwis) I am a Cardiac scrub nurse in Papworth Hospital in Cambridge and we are working on something similar. Visit youtube and see Papworth in africa project.I look foward to getting alot of Zambian medics ( doctors, Nurses, Radiographers etc) working in the UK to get involved.I know you are out there wishing to give something back to mother Zambia.
Hi Adade61. Thanks for your comments. I have seen the video from Papworth and it would be great to join in together. We had a great time in Lusaka and r just gradually getting back to NZ should have some photos etc. son on our face book page. Join us on Facebook and contact us thru the website. I have trained in Ireland and I had another surgeon and anesthetist from Bfast. who came and we plan in the future to work in tandem. It sounds from yr letter u have been to our website. I tried to ring your cardiologist on the you tube video before I left. Will try to make contact again. Best wishes