Lentswe, Klerksdorp - The Klerksdorp /Tshepong Hospital complex has achieved another milestone as part of delivering quality tertiary hospital services to the public. The latest success which is a successful off-pump bypass surgery done on two patients is the first of its kind in NW. It comes through a collaboration effort between our local, national and international experts.
“The success is also attributed to the fact that hospital has started utilising its newly-established catheterisation lab to diagnose and treat coronary artery and vascular diseases. This follows a commitment to expand cardiology and cardiothoracic services by the hospital recently,” said Thulane Madonsela, CEO of Klerksdorp/Tshepong Hospital Complex.
The latest breakthrough involves two patients whose conditions were identified through coronary angiogram by the hospital’s cardiologist, Dr Don Zachariah. They were referred for bypass surgery.
On Saturday November 9, a team consisting of Dr Murali Vettath (Cardiothoracic surgeon), Dr Kannan (Cardiac anaesthetist) and Saiju Abraham (Surgical assistant) arrived from India. Dr Vettath is a well-known cardiac surgeon and is an expert in off pump coronary surgery (OPCAB) which does not utilise the heart lung machine and can do bypass surgery while the heart is still beating. He has done over 5 000 such surgeries with less than 0.5 % mortality. He works as head of cardiothoracic surgery at Meitra Hospital, Kozhikode, Kerala, India.
With the full support of the management team of Klerksdorp / Tshepong Hospital led by Thulane Madonsela and Prof Binu Luke and with the blessings of the NW Department of Health, the two patients underwent off pump bypass surgery, the first of its kind in NW on Monday November 18 and Tuesday November 19 respectively in the cardiac theatre at Tshepong Hospital. The first patient is a male from Potchefstroom who was diagnosed with two vessel disease and the second patient is a male from Mahikeng with triple vessel disease. The two bypasses were done for the first patient on Monday and the second patient had three bypasses done on Tuesday. The surgeries went smoothly and patients are recovering in ICU and the ward.
The NW Department of Health led by MEC Sello Lehari, Dr Madipuo Tlhogane and Polaki Mokatsane has expressed gratitude and wishes to thank all the clinicians, nursing and support staff involved in the diagnosis and work up of these patients and the successful surgeries performed at Tshepong Hospital under the leadership of Dr Vettath.
