A team of foreign surgeons specialised in cardiology from Italy and the United States of America who perform lifesaving heart operations on babies and children, is presently in Mauritius to undertake corrective heart procedures on some 40 children at the Cardiac Unit in Pamplemousses.
This was announced by the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Kailesh Kumar Singh Jagutpal, this afternoon, at the seat of his Ministry in Port-Louis after a meeting with the team. The team, he added, comprises a cardiac surgeon, Dr Salvatore Agati, an anaesthetist, Dr Rosanna Zanai, a paediatric interventional cardiologist, Dr Evan Zahn, a CathLab Technician, Mr Philip Nevin, and a patient volunteer for lecture on patients’ care Congenital Cardiac Surgery, Mrs Kristinem Szott.
Dr Jagutpal indicated that the team is on a one week visit from 14 March to 20 March 2022 and will perform lifesaving heart operations on some 40 children. He expressed his gratitude to the team to perform these complex surgeries in Mauritius instead of sending younger children overseas. This, he added, will prove to be highly beneficial for all concerned, in terms of patients’ well-being and financial costs.
The Health Minister also informed that in addition to performing surgeries, the team is present in Mauritius for the renewal of the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Cardiac Trust, which is scheduled tomorrow at the Cardiac Unit. This initiative, he underlined, is in line with the Ministry’s vision to have complex and delicate surgical operations performed in Mauritius, instead of sending local patients abroad for treatment and will include the training of local specialists so that they acquire more knowledge in the U.S. in order to practice these types of surgeries in Mauritius.
In addition, the Minister pointed out that this is the second time that the team is visiting Mauritius while the first visit was in February 2020. The team will be back to the island in six months’ time to continue with their lifesaving operations and give training to local specialists so that they continue to deliver efficient service, he announced.
For his part, Dr Zahn emphasised that their role in Mauritius is to perform minimum invasive catheter procedures on babies and small children with the hope that they can be saved from further surgeries. “We bring all the advanced techniques that we have worked on in the USA for decades, so that we can close most of the heart holes in babies who are born with them and fix their narrow vessels,” he stated.
Dr Zahn expressed hope that on their next trip to Mauritius, they are able to put valves inside the hearts through catheters. In addition, he pointed out that with surgical operations, patients need to stay at the hospital for nearly ten days whereas with catheter procedures, less than 24 hours hospitalisation is required and reduces the stressful experience that illness and hospitalisation bring for child patients and their families.
