Kenyatta National Hospital has hit another medical milestone after conducting a minimally invasive surgery to fix a hole in the heart of an 18-year-old girl.
On 2 February 2021, a team of medical experts led by Dr. Naomi Gachara conducted a highly delicate pin hole procedure by accessing the heart from the leg to close the Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA).
Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) is a congenital heart defect that causes breathing problems, frequent chest infections and recurrent pneumonia.
According to the medical team from KNH, Mary Wanjiku, was discharged from the hospital 24 hours after surgery.
“24 hours is way shorter than if it had been an open heart surgery,” said Dr. Gachara during a press briefing.
Gachara said that due to low awareness of the experts’ achievements among the public they needed to announce this milestone.
Kenyatta National Hospital has been lauded by the public for conducting successful highly delicate and complex surgeries.
On October 4, 2020, the specialists at KNH re-attached the hand of a 7-year-old who was accidentally chopped off by a chaff cutter machine while working on the farm.
The boy was rushed to the hospital two hours after the accident and immediately taken to theatre. The team led by Dr. Nang’ole and Dr. Kamau Njoroge embarked on the surgery to reclaim the young boy's hand in an intricate procedure that took 10 hours.
In 2016, a multi- disciplinary team of 50 medical experts successfully operated on conjoined twins for 23 hours.
A year later, in June 2017, Blessing and Favour were ready to go home where they received a warm joyous welcome for two girls.
“May God give the doctors who attended to my children more knowledge to help more people” said the mother of the twins after being discharged.
