UTH public relations officer Mwenya Mulenga said in an interview yesterday that the surgeons have conducted seven operations on children and on a 20-year-old man.
Mr Mulenga said the Italian doctors were on a one-week surgical camp in Zambia and were conducting operations at UTH
“Eight surgeries were conducted by the Italian doctors and all were successful. This is overwhelming as patients were able to access surgical operations right here at UTH instead of going abroad,” he said.
Meanwhile, the collaboration between Italian cardiac surgeons and the Zambian government will soon see indigenous doctors performing open heart surgery after undergoing training, Ministry of Health director in charge of clinical care and diagnostic services Kennedy Lishimpi said.
Dr Lishimpi said while Zambia trains general surgeons, the government has employed only one cardiac surgeon and has attached two general surgeons for the purpose of learning.
Dr Lishimpi said this after witnessing open heart surgery performed by an Italian doctor Carlo Massini sponsored by an Italian non-governmental organisation (NGO), Mission Bambini, in collaboration with a Zambia-based Italian NGO “We for Zambia”.
“We want to use this opportunity to train Zambians and the Ministry of Health is very supportive of this project. We have a lot of talented young men and women who can be trained. At one point, we should be able to carry out these surgeries on our own,” Dr Lishimpi said.
Italian ambassador to Zambia Filippo Scammacca, who also witnessed the open heart surgery on a child, promised to do his best to enhance co-operation between Zambia and his country by finding resources for the cause.
“It is extremely emotional to be here. We have witnessed Italian and Zambian doctors working together to save lives of children. This is indeed a gift of life,” Mr Scammacca said.
And Dr Massini, the Italian cardiac surgeon who has so far operated on two other children, Gift Namwila, an 11-year-old girl, and David Chilufya, 6, said his team of doctors is passing on the skill to the Zambian doctors.
Dr Massini said his team, which includes Zambian doctors, carries out an average of one to two operations daily mainly due to the shortage of water at UTH.
“We carry out about seven or eight operations per week because water is sometimes a problem. But the most important thing we are doing is to pass on our knowledge so that after two or three years, the local doctors can take it up on their own,” he said.
Dr Massini and his team of seven other doctors, two nurses and a technician will come back in November for more operations.
Of all things water sure? How can something so basic hamper such important operations at the highest hospital in Zambia.
I hear some politician is giving out interest free loans to marketeers as though he were a bank while there’s water problem UTH.
LT your headline needs fixing.
I remember as a kid learning the first heart transplant was performed in Africa. I think it was South Africa. Christian Barnard. I remember thinking that’s not far from here. One day people around here will do great things too. Then I grew and watched my disappointed medical friends lose interest in progress as ambition was stifled. Others left. Good news for heart patients, but if we had not allowed the brain drain we might have achieved great things decades ago and be providers of skills too.
I thought this water problem was sorted out when old man was alive…its back to normal…i wonder why we dont harvest rain water for laundry,toilet and cleaning etc