Kisubi Hospital conducts its first heart surgery, starts screening for heart disease

Kisubi Hospital along Entebbe Road has conducted its first heart surgery, opening a new chapter for the facility.

The hospital confirmed this development on Friday morning.

The operation was conducted in the hospital's newly opened heart centre ward under the supervision of Dr Sanmath Shetty, an adult international cardiologist.

The operation was conducted at a subsidized cost to supplement the work done by the Uganda Heart Institute.

In addition to the operation, Kisubi Hospital conducted screening for 180 heart patients this week.

Speaking to the press, Dr Shetty explained that  that some of the causes of heart disease are high blood pressure, diabetes and lack of physical exercise and advised people to take regular physical exercise and eat a good, balanced diet.

He said that during screening, heart patients undergo a process that involves finding out the extent of blockage in the arteries that supply blood to heart before the patient is managed medically.

Dr. Shetty said that blockage in arteries is common among adult persons  and that if a patient goes for the heart prodecure early enough he/she can easily recovery from the heart condition.

Dr. Proscovia Mugaba, a pedetric cardiologist, at Kisubi hospital, noted that 1 out of 100 people are born with heart condition or born with congenital heart disease (CHD).

Dr. Mugaba said that children born with heart disease don't grow well and easily get tired when doing some activities and advised parents to take their children for routine medical checkups at immunization.

She said that Kisubi hospital manages different heart conditions for children born with a hole  in the heart through a Cath lab where the patient is put to rest or sleep.

Dr. Mugaba said the cause of heart disease at birth is not yet known and that babies born through artificial insemination are  at higher risk of getting heart disease plus those born through twin pregnancy.

On the other hand, Dr. Robert Saaba, the general manager of Kisubi hospital, revealed that two years ago, the board and management of the hospital decided to come up with a cardiological department to handle heart surgeries.

Dr. Saaba says that the Cardiac Heart Center, shall admit 30 patients and the cardiologists shall treat 5 patients on daily basis.