Durban — Siyabonga Mthethwa, 10, of Ulundi, who underwent a successful 10-hour heart operation at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in Durban, was discharged on Wednesday.
His aunt, Nokuphila Mthethwa, said that earlier this year Siyabonga was having a difficult time breathing and complained of tiredness after playing for five minutes. She was also concerned that he had lost a lot of weight. He was admitted to Nkonjeni District Hospital where it was discovered that he had a heart condition. He was then referred to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital.
Siyabonga had a hole in his heart, a primum atrial septal defect, and underwent surgery on July 11.
“This was a very stressful, emotional and difficult journey for me and my family. I had sleepless nights, but thanks to the doctors, they were very professional, always updating me. I am really thankful to them and everyone who made this successful,” Mthethwa said.
She could not hold back her tears as she expressed her gratitude to the team of surgeons responsible for the successful operation, which was regarded as a first of its kind in a public hospital in KwaZulu-Natal.
Mthethwa urged parents to monitor their children if they complained of tiredness and had symptoms of fever.
According to the hospital, an extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation machine (Ecmo) was used to rest the heart and allow the patient to recover. This machine was bought for Covid-19 treatment purposes. It had never been used in the history of cardiac surgery in the public health-care sector in KZN.
The hospital’s clinical head of cardiothoracic surgery, congenital cardiac surgeon Dr Manogvan Moopnar, who led the operation, said that if it was not for the machine Siyabonga would not be alive.
“During the operation, in the heart-starting process is when we had all problems, when the heart did not want to work. It was at that moment where I had to make a decision on what to do to save this boy’s life,” he said.
“So we then connected the child to a special machine called Ecmo, which supported his heart and the body. His heart started working right away. If it wasn’t for that decision to use Ecmo he would have died on the table,” said Moopnar.
“The operation involved using the heart-lung machine, so we had to stop the child’s heart from working so that we would be able to operate inside the heart. We were able to then close the hole using specialised materials,” he said.
KwaZulu-Natal Health head Dr Sandile Tshabalala commended the team of cardiothoracic surgeons for pulling off the “miraculous” operation.
“This is a milestone achievement which needs to be celebrated. We are very grateful to the team behind the success. We are also very happy for the Mthethwa family,” said Tshabalala.
He also added that even with limited resources, the success of this operation challenged them to do their best to ensure that medical experts had all the tools they needed, such as Ecmo.
Tshabalala said Ecmo cost about R1.5 million.
WhatsApp your views on this story to 071 485 7995.
Daily News