Story by Abigirl Tembo, Health Editor
In a remarkable display of medical cooperation, a team of Zimbabwean and Egyptian surgeons successfully performed life-changing heart surgeries on 10 Zimbabwean children at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
The children, aged from two years suffered from congenital heart diseases, which, if left untreated, would have significantly impacted their quality of life.
Parents of the children who underwent surgery expressed immense gratitude for the surgeries which were funded by the Government of Zimbabwe, Avenues Clinic, Rotary Club Zimbabwe and other partners.
“My daughter has had congenital heart disease for almost six years now but I could not afford to send her outside the country for an operation, but now am very happy that my daughter has had this operation and it was successful,” said a parent.
“Am eternally grateful to government and all the sponsors for affording my daughter a chance to have a normal life. Before this operation she couldn’t talk or walk so now I hope she will have a normal life like other children, am truly grateful,” said another.
The joint surgical team, led by Dr Hisham Shawky from Egypt and Dr Simukayi Machawira from Zimbabwe, worked seamlessly together to ensure the success of the operations.
“This mission was very exciting and very well prepared. It was very interesting to start here and they actually prepared the patients very well. They are very friendly and very knowledgeable. Their support to us was incredible.
“Of course, we are here to teach and make them do better and perform better in different procedures and cardiac surgery. In the OR, in the operating room and in the after operation. So definitely our interaction with the Zimbabwean doctors was very positive. They are helping us in each step and we are helping them together. So it is a win-win situation for them and for us. We’re planning to start a sustainable program, which will come in a few years. Actually, we’re starting to plan the next visit. Either we’ll do it somewhere in the late first half of the next second year, or somewhere in April, maybe July. It depends on how we can get things ready and funds available. So, we’ll do at least one next year,” explained Dr Shawky.
“So this is our first camp with the team from Egypt and I must say it was a very successful camp. Our aim was to operate on at least 10 patients which amounts to two patients each day. We have managed to operate on 10 patients and this is where we have ended and I’m happy to inform you that all the patients are doing very well. They’ve managed to come from theatre without any mechanical ventilation so they are breathing for themselves. They need very little support and they are doing very well so we are expecting that within the next week most of them will be going home.
“So,for every child born alive, one out of every 100 will have a congenital heart condition, which is amenable to surgical therapy. So if we look at our group birth rate, we are looking at least 4,500 children born in Zimbabwe each year that have this condition. And cumulatively, because there have been very little surgeries done, it becomes quite a large number. But I don’t have an exact figure of it at the moment,” noted Dr Machawira.
Egyptian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, His Excellency Sakwa Mowafi emphasised the strong relations between the two countries.
“The relations between Zimbabwe and Egypt are actually very strong. Since the time of independence, and before independence, actually, Egypt had supported Zimbabwe in its liberation struggle, and we continue to, of course, support Zimbabwe, because Zimbabwe is our African sister, and I believe, always in African solutions for African problems. And this is not only my personal point of view, this is the Government of Egypt’s point of view,” he said.
The groundbreaking collaboration aims to establish a sustainable pediatric cardiac surgery programme in Zimbabwe, addressing a significant need for such services, with approximately 4 500 children born with congenital heart conditions annually.
The initiative brings hope to countless families, marking a milestone as it kick-starts pediatric heart surgeries in the country, building on the successful resumption of adult heart surgeries last year.
