GASABO - A total of 16 heart patients have successfully undergone surgery and are steadily recovering at King Faisal Hospital (KFH) in Kacyiru.

The successful operations were undertaken during a period of 20 days by a team of 46 voluntary heart specialists that included volunteer doctors, nurses and medical specialists from the United States.

The team arrived in the country early this month.

"We are grateful for the work done by these world-class physicians; throughout their stay the team has been working closely with Rwandan cardiologists,” said KFH Chief Executive Officer, Dr Innocent Nyaruhirira.

According to the Programme Coordinator of Team Heart, Ceeya Bolman, "the team performed two pace-maker operations and 14 open heart surgeries. We have also been doing everything possible to reach out to every heart patient in Rwanda.”

She stressed that the types of operation that were carried out were rare and expensive, but the team carried out the surgeries voluntarily.

According to Nyaruhirira, normally one open heart surgery costs US$ 150,000 (approx. Rwf 83m) and that all operations were worth Rwf 35m.

The team that carried out the operation is from Brigham and the Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, which also donated equipment worth US1.2m.

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