Zimbabwe on the road to having consistent open heart surgeries

Zimbabwe is now on the road to having consistent open heart surgeries, a situation that will be ideal for several patients who have had to travel abroad to access such services.

Medical experts say it is best for the country to be self-sufficient regarding provision of specialist services.

Medical practitioners say it is imperative for the country to have systems that enable performance of specialist surgeries so as to save costs and widen access to healthcare services to the general population.

Open heart surgery resumed in Zimbabwe in February after having stopped since 2003 due to the harsh economic climate.

Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals clinical director Dr Noah Madziva said the hospital is now performing an open heart surgery each week following assistance from South Korea in February and with skills and technology transfer the frequency of procedures can be increased to clear the backlog of patients in need.

Chitungwiza Hospital chief executive officer Dr Obediah Moyo commended efforts by organisations to assist patients get treatment abroad in the short term highlighting that hospitals are targeting to be able to perform specialist surgeries locally.

Once Zimbabwe is self-sufficient in terms of performing surgeries, patients will be able to save up to thousands of dollars as it costs US$5000 to US$7000 to perform open heart surgery in Zimbabwe whereas the procedure is at least double the prize in countries such as India and neighbouring South Africa.