International relations

SA helps Namibia open cardiac unit

14 August 2008

South African President Thabo Mbeki and Namibian President Hifikepunye Pohamba inaugurated Namibia's first cardiac unit – the result of a joint initiative between the two countries – at Windhoek Central Hospital last week.

The inauguration followed the SA-Namibia heads of state bilateral commission meeting in the Namibian capital.

The creation of the unit stems from a request from Pohamba to Mbeki for South Africa's assistance in establishing a unit in Namibia that could provide comprehensive care and treatment for heart disease.

"In response to this challenge, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang assembled a team of surgeons from two public hospitals in Cape Town to assist Namibia to set up the cardiac unit, the first in the country, and the third in the African continent after South Africa and Egypt," South Africa's Department of Health said in a statement.

Historic moment

The cardiac unit consists of two wings, five intensive care unit beds, 12 inpatients beds, monitors and a Cath-Lab. All these units are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.

Namibia records more than 3 000 cardiac cases a year, some of them needing surgical correction to improve the quality of their lives.

Previously, Namibian heart patients would have to be flown to South Africa and Kenya for treatment, an exercise that was not only expensive to both the patient and their government in terms of resources, but also had emotional drain effect on those who had to travel miles away from home.

Nine heart surgeries have been successfully performed since the unit was first opened to the public on 23 June. The operations all involved the replacement of heart valves which were diseased through rheumatic fever complications.

South African professionals

The operations were performed by a combined team of 13 health professionals from South Africa's Groote Schuur Hospital, the Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, and a team from Windhoek Central Hospital.

The surgical team includes cardiologists, cardio-thoracic surgeons, anaesthetists, theatre and intensive care unit nurses, perfusionists and a paediatric cardiac surgeon.

"The most gratifying aspect of the project is the quality of life that will now be enjoyed by these people, who otherwise would have experienced heart failure and generally a poor quality of health," Tshabalala-Msimang said.

Tshabalala-Msimang and Namibian Health Minister Richard Kamwi have also established a joint committee to ensure that sustainable capacity to conduct cardiac surgeries in Windhoek is built up before South Africa hands over the project to Namibia.

"It is envisaged that this cardiac unit will one day be able to assist not only patients in Namibia, but from the rest of the continent," the health department said.

SAinfo reporter