Heart defects and other heart related diseases are among the silent killers in East Africa’s third economy-Uganda. Over 30 cases of heart diseases are reported daily at Uganda’s main hospital, Mulago. Uganda is also still one of the African countries with many heart birth defects.  Close to 2000 children with heart defects remain untreated in Uganda and over 40,000 adults suffer silently.

In Uganda it is only people from the rich families, particularly people from families whose members work in government offices who can afford heart surgery/ treatment. A doctor at the heart institute in Kampala tells us that several chidren in Uganda have been diagnosed with holes in their hearts. The doctors say that heart defects (ventricular septal defect) cause high blood pressure in the lungs and lead to irreversible damage of the lungs if left untreated. To perform a heart surgery the medical experts perform the procedure called Dacron patch closure or banding.

Prof. Mark Turrentine, the head of congenital heart surgery at Indiana University School of Medicine during his visit to Kampala said to run a successful heart surgery the experts needs to team up with cardiothoracic surgery, scrub nurses- who assist surgeons in the operating room, anaesthetic doctors, medical experts who pass on the necessary equipment as required by surgeons, anaesthetic technicians, bio-medical engineers and perfusionists who operate the heart-lung machine.

Ends