Lentswe, Klerksdorp - The medical team, hospital management and NW MEC were in a jubilant mood this week when they announced the first open heart surgery done at Tshepong Hospital. This ground-breaking operation was done on Friday May 24 when Martha Vanstawel (38) of Jouberton spent almost seven hours in theatre. This was the first procedure of this nature in the 46 years since the hospital was opened.
The patient was wide awake and smiling in her ICU bed when she talked to her VIP visitors on Monday May 27. “I feel good,” she said. She said she waited seven years for this operation and is so thankful that it was done. “I am grateful for the care and treatment I received so far. I am also thankful that the operation was done here at home, where my family can easily visit me. Thank you, all the doctors and nurses, and everyone who made this operation a success.”
Prof Binu Luke was beaming with pride when he addressed the guests. He said they had to look for the right patient. They had three, but only Vanstawel agreed. “She had a complicated condition with single valve disease and also an aneurysm in the wall of the heart. This type of aneurysm is not common,” he said.
This operation was a collaborative partnership between the North West and Gauteng provincial departments of health. Klerksdorp-Tshepong Hospital supported by the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital (CMJAH) achieved the historical milestone. NW Health MEC Madoda Sambatha described this operation as a momentous day for NW and Tshepong and reiterated that the new medical school will open in 2028 in Klerksdorp.
The MEC continued by singing the praise to the National Health Insurance (NHI) saying “this breakthrough no doubt demonstrates our ability to implement NHI’’. “The surgery was state-funded and done in a township which is exactly what NHI stands for.”
Gauteng MEC for Health and Wellness Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, said the collaboration has paved the way for enhanced healthcare delivery, ensuring that specialised services are accessible to all citizens in need of critical care regardless of their province of origin.
The discussions to start cardiac services at the Klerksdorp-Tshepong Hospital complex date back to 2010, with structural planning beginning a decade later. Heart operations, by their very nature, require enormous capital investments, manpower, and infrastructure. Klerksdorp-Tshepong Hospital renovated theatres during the pandemic and acquiring the necessary equipment.
The CMJAH team was led by Dr Tumi Taunyane, Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery, who originally hails from Klerksdorp, and Dr Palesa Motshabi Chakane, Head of Anaesthesia. The Klerksdorp-Tshepong Hospital team was led by Dr Akin Ogunrombi (Thoracic Surgeon) and Dr Aunell Mallier (Anaesthetist). Cardiac surgical patients needing heart operations at Klerksdorp-Tshepong Hospital have been referred to other centres in Bloemfontein and CMJAH Hospital. However, this initiative is bound to alleviate the pressure on the waiting times for surgery at central hospitals.
