State heart patients worried … as cardiologist leaves

HEART patients at the Windhoek Central Hospital’s cardiac ward are concerened, after the facility’s only cardiologist left the hospital.

A team of temporary medical practitioners have since been appointed by the Ministry of Health and Social Services to treat state cardiac patients until state specialists return from training.

Dr Simon Beshir stopped practising at the Windhoek Central Hospital in February due to an overwhelming number of patients from the public and private sector.

The interim team will operate on child and adult cardiac patients.

“I had my mother there, but since he [Beshir] left things just went downhill,” says the daughter of a patient.

Another patient says: “I am worried. I was doctored from 20% heart function to fully functioning. Unfortunately I cannot afford to seek treatment at the Roman Catholic Hospital either, because I’m a pensioner.”

Executive director of health and social services Ben Nangombe last week said the state has a pediatric cardiologist, medical officers and technologists, as well as a surgeon, who is trained to operate on both children and adults.

He said the only adult cardiac patients that are outsourced to private facilities are those requiring emergency procedures in the catheterisation laboratory.

“In the interim, these teams have been tending to the state adult cardiac patients within the state facility,” he said.

“It is not correct [to say] that there is no doctor to attend to state adult cardiac patients. There is no adult cardiologist in the state service at present (with four in the private sector), but there is a Namibian trained adult cardiologist completing training in Cape Town,” Nangombe said.

He said not all state adult cardiac patients are referred to private health facilities.

Nangombe said one of the adult cardiologists from Ongwediva Medipark earlier this year came to do interventions on adult cardiac patients in the state facility as part of their social corporate responsibility.

He added that Medipark also extended this offer and are available on a rotational basis.

An adult cardiologist, doctor Mike Allison at Lady Pohamba Private Hospital, has also offered to assist the state should the need arise.

“The state, however, can perform all adult cardiac surgical procedures. By the end of 2020, there will be three Namibian-trained heart surgeons in the state’s service,” he said.

‘With Namibians coming back from their respective training missions, the prospects for cardiac services overall have never looked brighter,” he said.

“Yes, the situation is not ideal, but it would be most unfortunate if certain self-serving statements and claims are made regarding state services and facilities,” Nangombe said.

Beshir had been the only cardiologist in Namibia between 2012 and 2017 while running the state cardiac unit as well as the private cardiac unit at the Roman Catholic Hospital.

He was performing over 2 000 cardiac procedures a year.

“I am not doing this for money. I do feel bad about state patients being left. But I cannot be in both places at the same time,” he said.

Beshir was hoping the cardiologists from South Africa would help relieve the demand of state cardiac patients, but says the reality is different.

“Most of the specialists only work in private hospitals and their role in state medical care is minimal or none,” he said.

He said since 2018 the state has been running out of the necessary equipment at the cardiac unit, and it became increasingly difficult to perform procedures safely.

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