- Anne Waithere, a resident of Turbo and who is one of the parents with success stories says her son was operated on and is now fine.
- Fred Okinda is a beneficiary of the Tenwek Mision Hospital cardiac surgery fund, a kitty established by the hospital.
Image: FILE
Gladys Chepringuk is distraught.
Gladys' son has been suffering from a rare heart complication since birth.
For the last few days, Gladys has camped at a rural mission hospital in Bomet, South Rift, seeking any help that can save her son.
Today, she is due to see a cardiothoracic surgeon here at Tenwek Mision Hospital, Bomet, County after waiting for a week.
"We have waited for some time now, but I am happy that today we shall see the doctor. My son is suffering from a heart condition and I was told that I can get help here faster than other facilities," Gladys tells the Star at the facility.
For Gladys, she is after the well-being of her seven-year-old son who has been suffering from congenital or rheumatic heart disease.
Like Gladys, the queue is long and many have come today to see the cardiothoracic surgeon. There are cries of children within this waiting bay with some as young as just months old.
Some of the children have come for a review while the majority are in for the first time today after being referred to the doctors who specialise in the treatment of heart-related complications.
Next to Gladys is Emily Koskei, a mother of three, but who today has brought her four-year-old daughter for review.
Unlike Gladys' son who is yet to undergo a procedure, Emily's daughter was treated and is here for a routine check-up.
"I am happy. Without these doctors here, I don't know where I would be today, perhaps my daughter would have died a long time ago. I thank God for the doctors at Tenwek Mision Hospital," Emily says.
Her daughter's condition was discovered at birth and she was advised to see a specialist in Nairobi in 2021.
She was then working as a casual labourer at a factory in the industrial area which was closed down at the height of Covid-19 pandemic.
A single mother, after her husband ran away immediately after the child was born, Emily only hoped for a miracle when she left Nairobi for her parents' home in Mulot.
"I just came with my son and a small sack with a few clothes. My husband had packed and left his rural home as well and until today, we don't talk. Maybe he thinks Lily died," Emily says.
She was here until a few months ago when her son's health deteriorated.
Luckily, her uncle advised her to visit Tenwek Mission Hospital, some kilometres away and handed her some Sh3,000.
It was this mission hospital which is saving one heart at a time, that restored hope to Emily who had then given up.
Since Lily's procedure, the girl has been doing tremendously well.
"I give glory to God and may he bless these doctors here," she says.
Like Emily and Gladys, many parents visiting the facility with children having heart complications hope that all will be well.
And yes, the cardiothoracic surgeons at this mission hospital located five kilometres from Bomet town are saving the lives of children with congenital or rheumatic heart disease.
Hundreds of children with various heart complications have undergone successful operations at this hospital, the majority of them being from humble backgrounds.
Because of the long waiting list, many have to endure weeks in the queue.
Because heart surgery is an expensive procedure; this waiting could sometimes lead to death.
Here it is a matter of life and death as parents who have children with heart disease wait to get a slot in the theatre.
Anne Waithera, a mother of one, says she realised that her son Davis had a heart disease after birth.
David was not breathing properly and so the doctors discovered that he had a heart condition.
"Immediately he was born, he was not breathing properly and that is when the doctors told me that something was wrong with the heart," she says.
Anne admits that parents go through a lot of agony given the fears, anxiety and pain they have to endure when dealing with children with heart complications.
"Most of us cannot afford the cost of treatment and surgery, which means they have to wait longer. Heart surgery is an expensive undertaking," she says.
According to Arega Fekadu, a cardiothoracic surgeon based at Tenwek Mission Hospital poverty is driving hopelessness among parents who are mainly poor.
Given the location of the hospital, they face the biggest challenges that come with the massive number of extremely poor patients, yet seeking help.
"Poverty is the biggest challenge here given that we are in a rural set-up where the majority of the locals are extremely poor," Fekadu says.
Just last year, medics raised concerns over the rise in the prevalence of heart disease in the South Rift region, which covers Samburu, Baringo, Nakuru, Kericho, Bomet, and Narok counties.
Other Cardiothoracic surgeons at Tenwek Mission Hospital admit that the burden of cardiothoracic diseases that require surgery is high not only in the South Rift but countrywide.
"Every year there are about 10,000 patients that require open heart surgery out of those about half that is 5,000, are children below thirteen," says Dr Keith Dindi, a Cardiothoracic surgeon at the facility.
Out of the 10,000 patients that require heart surgery here annually only 500 are operated on.
This is less than five per cent of all the patients that are in dire need of these surgeries.
"What is heartbreaking for us medics is that every year we don’t operate all the patients. That waiting list has patients who die waiting for the surgeries to be done," says Dr Dindi.
Tenwek Hospital is the region's foremost and single largest provider of cardiac surgery in the region and beyond.
Doctor Fekadu says that over the years they have developed significant capacity as well as high-level infrastructure.
"We are passionate about changing the story we want to see more patients this surgery getting these surgeries changing the world one heart at a time," he says.
The doctor says the most common indication for surgery at Tenwek Mission Hospital is Rheumatic heart disease.
This is caused by a strep throat infection in a young child that is not appropriately treated.
According to Doctor Fekadu, this eventually leads to severe heart valve damage, which can only be treated surgically with valve replacement or repair.
Medics at Tenwek Mission Hospital are working to reduce the incidence of this preventable condition which remains the leading cause of preventable death due to heart disease.
The other large category of patients seen here is congenital heart disease.
These are infants and children who were born with defects in their hearts.
Anne Waithere, a resident of Turbo and who is one of the parents with success stories says her son was operated on and is now fine.
"We were at the hospital last week, the boy went through surgery and is now fine. It has been tough but I am happy that I finally made it through the long waiting list. I urge parents not to hide their children having heart diseases because most of them are treatable," she told the Star.
Fred Okinda is a beneficiary of the Tenwek Mision Hospital cardiac surgery fund, a kitty established by the hospital.
"My son was operated on and I did not pay anything because the hospital paid for me," he says of how cardiothoracic surgeons at the facility continue to save lives.
The hospital’s compassionate cardiac surgical fund has helped many needy patients pay their hospital bills.