Surgery in Africa has progressed, leading to fewer complications and improved outcomes.
The surgical field has, in recent times, witnessed some mind-blowing incisions that have saved precious lives and transformed others.
The latest from Zimbabwe is that surgeons at the Parirenyatwa Hospital have successfully removed a kidney cyst weighing 12,3kg from an adult female.
By the feat, the Zimbabwean team has dethroned Japanese surgeons who held the record for removing a cyst with an 11,5kg weight.
The beneficiary of the operation, Milka Gwatiringa, expressed delight at the removal of the 11-year-old cyst, noting that she had wished to be operated upon in South Africa because of assumptions that the local hospital couldn’t undertake it without complications.
She, however, couldn’t make it to South Africa due to the cost involved. The good news is that her surgery at the Zimbabwean hospital cost $2000; had she travelled to a foreign state for the same operation, it would have cost her $11,000.
“I had so many fears because the media reports about our public health system. I wanted to go to South Africa because the reports and the news that we sometimes hear about our public institutions leave a lot of doubt, especially when you are sick. After getting assurance from peers and friends and because it was expensive for me to get the services outside the country, I came to Parirenyatwa and here I am, the 11-year-old tumor has been removed,” Gwatiringa said.
The complicated surgical procedure was conducted by a team of local doctors led by consultant urologist Dr. Shingirai Meki, who is also a lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe’s College of Health Sciences.
Addressing the media at the Parirenyatwa Hospital, the institution’s clinical director, Dr. Aspect Maunganidze, urged Zimbabweans to have faith in the country’s public health delivery system, saying it had competent medical professionals that are able to carry out most of the services sourced externally.
“We encourage the members of the public with various ailments to seek medical attention in our health institutions because we still have the experts who can provide such services,” he further submitted.
Kidney or renal cysts are small, fluid-filled sacs in the kidneys; they’re usually harmless and rarely cause symptoms. They are quite common, with a good number of people having them without knowing it.
Healthline says some cysts are so small while others can “grow to be as large as a tennis ball. As they get larger, cysts can press on nearby organs and cause pain.”
