Three lose lives after heart surgery- Motumise

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Thursday April 16, 2015 10:57

The procedures were conducted at PMH and Scottish Livingstone Hospital at Molepolole recently.

The procedures were conducted with the help of a Mauritian Medical Team from the Cardiac Centre at Pamplemousse, in Mauritius.“It is with deep sorrow that we have lost two open heart surgery patients and one patient after pacemaker insertion. It is with sadness that despite our heroic efforts from our dedicated staff, all our resuscitative efforts were unfruitful,” he said.

Motumise explained that it was unfortunate that the patients they lost had complications, as they already had previous cardiac operations and advanced diseases at the time of their operations.“Let me highlight that we normally do not share with the public the mortalities and morbidities of any major and complicated surgeries. “However, given these scenarios, we want to inform and reassure the public of our commitment to quality and good outcomes.,” he added.He said cardiac procedures were highly skilled complicated operations with significant mortality and morbidity. Motumise added that in the best centres with dedicated cardiac units, the mortality was five percent after procedures. The mortality rates increase with co-morbidities, severity of the heart condition, age and surgeon skills, he added.

He however, reassured the public that they would continue providing holistic quality health services to Batswana and urged them to keep on going to the hospital for medical assistance.

The procedures conducted were 42 Echos 25 Angiography, one Angioplasty, three insertion of pace maker and eight Open Heart surgeries.

The Echo is the heart scan while Angiography refers to a medical imaging technique used to visualise the inside, or lumen, of blood vessels and organs of the body, with particular interest in the arteries, veins, and the heart chambers)

Angioplasty refers to an endovascular procedure to widen narrowed or obstructed arteries or veins, typically to treat arterial atherosclerosis.

“These procedures were initially conducted in PMH and due to shortage of space, overcrowding and shortage of specialists in local communities and decongestion strategies, open heart surgeries are now done at Scottish hospital .since 2013, whereas heart scans, coronary angiography and pacemaker insertions are done at Marina,” said Motumise.