A team of doctors from India recently performed successful heart surgeries at the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital on six patients including a 15-year-old who suffered from heart complications for the last two years.
The surgeries were performed between last Friday and Monday by the visiting team which is led by Cardiac surgeon, Dr Prashant Vaijyanath.
The other members of the team are cardiologist, Dr Vijay Patel; anesthesiologist, Dr Ramesh; perfusionist, Mr Pelavi and physician assistant, Ms Elvina. They were assisted by medical staff of the Balwant Singh Hospital.
The cost for surgery varies and starts from about US$9,000 or around $1.9M.
The eldest patient was a 59-year-old while the youngest was the 15-year-old. Four of the patients required beating-heart bypass surgeries. The remaining two had open-heart surgeries.
Three of the patients including Sewdat Sammy and Dindyal Narine have since recovered. The other three were expected to be out of the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) yesterday.
At a media briefing yesterday, Dr Vaijyanath said that the surgeries were performed without any complications.
“There were no complications like bleeding or respiratory complications, (these) were almost negligible, almost zero complications,” he said.
Dr Vaijyanath explained that with the beating-heart bypass surgery, the patient is operated on while the heart continues to provide blood to the rest of the body during the surgery.
“…Beating heart surgery which means we don’t put the patient on heart plug machines. We do the anastomotic, the coronary artery bypass on (the) beating heart by stabilizing the heart and we don’t stop the heart at all,” he said.
“…..So four of the six patients were operated. They had excellent outcomes which means that … the respirator was out, within an hour of surgery they had minimal or low blood transfusions which means hardly one unit of blood was used,” Dr Vaijyanath noted.
Before these surgeries are done, Dr Vaijyanath said a number of factors have to be considered including the facility which will be used and the social circumstances.
“…….So if you have in-house services, deliverable like Dr Balwant Singh Hospital I think it will be a big goal in disguise for the population of Guyana which has got a very high incidents of hypertension, high incidents of diabetes and obesity,” Dr Vaijyanath said.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dr Madhu Singh said Dr Balwant Singh Hospital has been looking to fill this gap of health care in the country for some time now.
“…That is access to safe and advanced cardiac surgery and with the arrival of this team we have been able to do just that,” she said.
Dr Singh admitted that she was “a little skeptical” during the initial engagements with Dr Vaijyanath.
However, subsequently, she said an assessment was done to ensure that the hospital has all the necessary equipment and the operating theatre needed to perform the surgeries.
The process, according to Dr Singh was scheduled to have been completed about six months ago but was hindered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“….Things kept getting pushed back…..But anyway, we are here and we have gotten it off the ground. We at Balwant Singh hospital are extremely pleased with the outcome and the fact that we have been able to help very sick patients who have been waiting for surgery for almost two years,” Dr Singh said.
Heart attacks
According to Dr Vaijyanath, Guyana’s population has a “very high incidence of coronary artery diseases” also known as heart disease.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) as a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels and they include coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, rheuma-tic heart disease and other conditions.
CVDs, WHO said are the leading cause of death globally, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year.
Both Sammy and Narine are currently in recovery.
Forty-eight-year-old Sammy told reporters yesterday that he had a beating-heart bypass surgery.
Sammy explained that about two months ago he was in Georgetown purchasing some materials when he suddenly felt a shock in his hand. “I rush to the pharmacy and drink tablet. They tell me the pressure (blood pressure) high but me done suspect something wrong because of me natural feelings,” he related.
Sammy said he took several pills and later went to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) where he was treated.
However, he explained that his father then passed away and due to the stress, he experienced two heart attacks.
It was then that he said he visited the Balwant Singh Hospital and registered for surgery.
“I feel very well…the surgery come out good and everything go very well here,” Sammy said.
Narine on the other hand had blockages in his heart.
“Me catch back meh self now….me ah come out back easy, easy,” Narine told reporters yesterday.
The 52-year-old Pomeroon resident said he never experienced any issues with his heart but had a “sudden tek down”.
About two weeks ago, he said he suffered three heart attacks.
“It start with like a wind….then me drink one Diamond water and tea but I can’t rest and after I can’t rest,” Narine said.
That, he said caused him to travel to a private hospital in the city where he was admitted. However, unsure as to how long he would be hospitalised, Narine said he went to the GPH.
However, he said due to the COVI9-19 pandemic surgeons were unavailable there. As such, he said he decided to visit Balwant Singh Hospital where the service was available.
The visiting team departs Guyana at the end of this week.
However, Dr Singh said that they are hoping to return every six to eight weeks to assist other patients.
Already, she said there are five patients who have registered for surgeries on the team’s next visit.
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