The plan is aimed at providing medical care to people who are suffering from heart disease but are not able to pay treatment costs and at the same time rendering it unnecessary to them abroad for such service.

 

Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Bugando Hospital, Professor William Mahalu, said here over the weekend during the commemoration of World Heart Day, which was held at the BMC Grounds and preceded by a procession of BMC workers.

 

The commemoration was officiated by the Ilemela District Commissioner, Dr Leonard Masale, on behalf of Mwanza Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr John Mongela, and attended by Mwanza residents and Bugando staff.

 

Heart or cardiovascular disease generally refers to a condition that involves narrowing or blockage of blood vessels that can lead to a heart attack, chest pain or stroke.

 

Prof Mahalu, who also doubled as the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI), said the establishment of the foundation will enable the cardiothoracic surgery department to provide treatment for the condition.

 

According to him, the funds from the foundation will be used to build capacity of cardiology services; training of personnel, buying of special equipment and pay for the cost of some of the operations.

 

He urged Tanzanians to replenish their hearts with balanced diet, work, exercise and avoiding smoke for the welfare of their lives. The motto for this year's commemoration was "Power your life" by replenishing your body with balanced diet and avoid to smoke.

 

He said his institution has set a goal of reducing deaths from heart disease by 25 per cent by 2025 and it has commemorated the day for making medical check-up to 500 people, of whom 70 were children, where 12 children and 48 adults have been found with heart disease.

 

"We have advised all of them to come here at our clinics to get treatments," he said.

 

He said since the heart surgery services came into inception and launched by the former Vice-President Dr Mohamed Gharib Bilal at the hospital in 2013, a total of 152 patients have undergone successfully heart surgeries.

 

Despite those achievements, Prof Mahalu said, his department faced a big shortage of surgery equipment, which forced some of the patients to be treated at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) and others sent abroad.

 

"We do not have sufficient human resources here, a situation that leads to making one surgery per week, and the cost of a surgery is too expensive, with the average single operation costs 6m/- ", he said.

 

On his part, the Bugando Referral Hospital's Acting Director, Dr Alphonce Chandika, asked the government to give priority to treatment of noncommunicable disease such as heart disease. "I ask the government to build for us sufficient capacity to treat heart diseases," he said.

 

On his part, a Kiloleli resident in Ilemela Municipality, Mr Noah Nicodemus (55), has asked the government to improve the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department so that it can provide medical care to people who cannot afford treatment costs.

 

He said that at the same function when he was giving a testimony of how he received treatment for the disease in the hospital, leading to his recovery, where he was admitted to the hospital for the first time in 2009.

 

He noted that the hospital has experts who specialise in the treatment of the disease and that despite their singularity, they were doing service to heart patients.

 

"I urge the government to improve medical care for the heart patients, because in this era of science and technology, cardiac surgery can be done much better to help patients to get clinical care whilst they are at home," he observed.

Source : allafrica.com