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Full-fledged Cardiac Institute at ALMC in the offing

Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC)

THE Arusha Lutheran Medical Centre (ALMC) and the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) plan to establish full-fledged Cardiac Institute in Arusha to cater for northern zone.

JKCI immediate former Executive Director Prof Mohammed Janabi disclosed the mission over the weekend in Arusha when he was gracing the heart clinic held at ALMC, as part of the World Heart Day commemoration.

“Plans are well underway for JKCI and ALMC hospitals to establish a Cardiac Institute within the ALMC in Arusha to offer sustainable and affordable cardiovascular services for patients in northern Tanzania,” Prof Janabi told the heart patients.

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Prof Janabi, who recently appointed as the new Executive Director for Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), said idea was to relief northern zone’s patients from traveling to Dar es Salaam to seek for the service.

“We’ve also agreed to collaborate with ALMC to have a monthly cardiac clinic right here in our latest initiative to attend the patients in northern zone at affordable cost,” he said, amid applause from the floor.

For his part, the ALMC Chief Executive Officer, Mr Elisha Twisa said that from this month (October) he would deploy a 10-heart mission comprising the specialist doctors and related personnel to JKCI to acquire practical competency as part of the grand plan to prepare them to offer cardiac service at ALMC.

“I would dispatch a ten-doctor team comprising heart specialists to work under the JKCI cardiac specialists in order to acquire practical experiences to deal with complex heart illnesses as part of preparation to establish the full-fledged cardiac institute at ALMC,” Mr Twisa noted.

Once is established, the ALMC Cardiac Institute would provide the full spectrum of cardiac care, including open-heart surgery, vascular surgery, interventional and electrophysiology and programs for congestive heart failure and heart health, the CEO said.

Mr Twisa said that the ALMC hospital is well equipped in terms of state-of-the-arts equipment coupled with qualified healthcare staff including 21 medical specialists, the highest number indeed compared to its peers.

The hospital runs an advanced emergency medicine department, performing laparoscopic surgeries, Nephrology and Dialysis, Neurosurgery, Obstetrics and Gynaecology and a well-equipped NICU, Orthopedics, Radiology that include CT-Scanning, palliative care among others.

Dr Frank Madinda, the ALMC Director of Clinical Services, said that with the professional and technology partnership between the two top-notch hospitals, the majority of heart diseases would be treated within the country.

“The cardiac institute at ALMC is critical as Northern zone is a pandemic area for hypertension and cardiac diseases, diabetes, mellitus, kidney illnesses and other heart related conditions” Dr. Madinda explained.

Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) is a government owned hospital, which serves patients from across all regions of Tanzania who are referred from regional referral and designated hospitals for cardiovascular medical intervention.

JKCI established in 2015 to offer high quality affordable cardiovascular care to patients, facilitate sustainable delivery of tertiary cardiovascular care services, providing specialized and super specialized postgraduate courses in the fields of cardiovascular medicine and offering a conducive environment for internationally acclaimed cardiovascular research.

Available records show that JKCI currently has the capacity of 150 beds and is serving between 300 and 400 outpatients a day with the figures soaring.

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