A cardiologist from the University of Virginia in the United States of America (USA), Sula Mazimba, has called on the general public to regularly have their hearts checked.
Dr Mazimba said having regular heart check-ups will reduce chances of having complications such as chest pains, heart attacks and shortness of breath among others.
He said health literacy is very important because it makes individuals know the condition of their bodies, including how their hearts are fairing.
He said this today at the National Heart Disease Hospital in Chongwe district where are team of doctors from the USA is conducting heart surgeries.
“Health literacy is key because this will give you an opportunity to know the state of your heart. These are the cases we see. People are having complications like heart attacks and by the time they seek medical attention, the complication could have advanced,” Dr Mazimba said.
Dr Mazimba noted that people with heart complications should also take advantage of the state of the art facility at the National Heart Disease Hospital to have themselves checked.
He said in the past, people used to be referred to different countries such as India and South Africa to have a heart operation.
Dr Mazimba added that National Heart Disease Hospital presents a great opportunity for the Zambian people who are faced with heart challenges to receive services.
“I am calling upon the general public who have had issues such as shortness of breath to immediately have themselves checked. Such signs usually comes from the heart and ignoring them will pose a complication,” Dr Mazimba noted.
Dr Mazimba added that so far, the team has screened over 100 patients and conducted some heart surgeries.
“It has been a great opportunity to come back home and conduct a number of some complex cardiac surgeries and I am happy that we have these facilities here now because in the past, these were done from abroad,” he said.
He noted that so far, two open surgeries, which in the past could have been done abroad, were conducted by the team.
“We had a patient who had a hole in the heart and usually this could have been conducted outside the country but because of this fantastic facility here, we managed to open the heart and also close it.” Dr Mazimba explained.
We in pf had a huge heart for the people. The upnd evil thugs need to have their hearts and heads checked
Where is picture of that doctor from rural America?