The Aga Khan Health Services in Dar es Salaam plan
to start performing heart surgery, a step forward that will provide relief to
patients, who are currently forced to seek such treatment abroad, at high cost.
This AKHS initiative will complement efforts by the
Muhimbili National Hospital, which is also in the final stages of preparations
for operating on heart patients.
AKHS medical director Dr Jaffer Dharsee said at the
weekend that the AKHS would provide a full range of cardiac imaging.
He said such a procedure involved what in medical
terms are called angiography, angioplasty and ballooning, stenting and (eventually)
open heart surgery.
Although he could not expand on the potential cost
of heart surgery, reports indicate that the price for heart bypass surgery in
India varies between $5,500 (Sh8.8million) and $ 7,800 (Sh12.4million).
In Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and other East-African
countries, where the condition of medical facilities is quite grim, medical
tourism to India is a boon for these countries, reports say.
Dr Dharsee explained further that they hoped that
for each operation on the heart which was conducted locally, Tanzanian patients
would reduce their medical costs by half.
He explained that the AKHS and the MNH saw the
necessity of providing home services to fight cardiovascular diseases, hence
doing away with dependence on outside countries.
He was speaking at a symposium about 2013 cardiology
updates, and the status of cardiac services in East Africa and in Dar es
Salaam.
He said they planned to start providing the service
by June next year, while the MNH would begin in the next two months.
“With this move, there are signs that over the next
three years we will achieve a big step in treating cardiovascular diseases in
this country,” he said.
It was noted that the provision of such services
here would cut costs for patients who had been seeking the services abroad.
He also said their decision was a response to President
Jakaya Kikwete’s appeal to local experts to bring heart-surgery to this
country.
While rates of cardiovascular disease, including
coronary heart disease and stroke have been declining in most industrialised
countries, including the United States and the UK, they are rising in most
developing countries.
Stroke mortality rates in Tanzania are three times
higher than in the UK. There were nearly 46,000 deaths due to cardiovascular
disease in 2002, this number was expected to rise to 63,000 in 2015 and 85,400
in 2031.
Chronic diseases create large adverse, quite underrated,
economic effects on families, communities and countries.
In 2005 alone, it was estimated that Tanzania lost
$100 million in national income from premature deaths due to heart disease,
stroke and diabetes.
These losses are projected to continue to increase,
cumulatively. Tanzania stands to lose about $3 billion over the next 10 years
from premature deaths due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
Dr Dharsee further
said that the prevalence of cardiovascular diseases such as hypertension
and obesity was much higher in urban areas than in rural areas, with the
highest rate in Dar es Salaam region.
It was projected that cardiovascular diseases would
become the single most common cause of death in the developing and developed
world, with Africa experiencing an overall steady rise in non-communicable
diseases.
Risk factors include hypertension, smoking,
diabetes, obesity, unhealthy life-style habits and the ageing of the
population.
These factors combined with rapidly increasing
urbanization have contributed to the overwhelming rates of cardiac-related
diseases in this country.
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