The Sunday Mail
Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Minister of Health and Child Care, on Thursday witnessed the relaunch of the open-heart surgery programme at Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals.
He had the opportunity to be in the theatre room to interact with Ms Blessing Gonda (29), who will be the first patient to benefit from the procedure.
She was diagnosed with a heart disease in 2020.
In the same year, she also suffered a stroke that affected her ability to carry out simple tasks.
Ms Gonda, an orphan who lives with her brother, was all smiles.
The last open-heart surgery was carried out in 2018.
The VP was in the company of his deputy, Dr John Mangwiro, Permanent Secretary Air Commodore Dr Jasper Chimedza and Parirenyatwa chief medical officer Dr Aspect Maunganidze.
VP Chiwenga said the development marked another milestone in the Second Republic’s quest to provide quality healthcare for Zimbabweans.
“At the moment, a number of programmes have been lined-up to clear the backlog of patients with heart conditions in the country.
“During the past five years, we have been sending patients with major vascular conditions to other countries, including Italy, South Africa, India and Sudan.
“Now we have a team of specialists, some who were with us for quite some time and some we have sent out and they have come back, comprising of young men and women,” said the VP.
“I have promised them that we shall give them the support they need because we also intend to have Zimbabwe as a tourist area in terms of health, and not sending our people outside the country.”
He said the open-heart surgery programme will be decentralised, starting with Mpilo Hospital, to cater for the southern part of the country.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care, he said, will be delivering ambulances and utility vehicles, among other equipment, by end of this month.
He urged those with heart conditions to come forward for early screening, adding that the ministry had also established synergies with sister African countries such as Kenya, South Africa and Egypt to enrich its expertise to undertake the procedure.
