At least 16 people are set to benefit from free heart operations at King Faisal Hospital Kigali.

The operations that began on Monday, are conducted by Healing Hearts North West from Spoken Washington. They will run until next Tuesday.

Briefing journalists in Kigali on Monday, Dr Hal Goldberg, a cardiologist who is leading the team of surgeons, said the objective is to enable people mostly living with rheumatic heart diseases in Rwanda to undergo successful heart operations.

"Most patients who have rheumatic heart diseases, if operated upon, can regain their activity and become productive. We want to make this possible through providing successful cardiac operations,” Goldberg said.

He pointed to poverty andneglected infections as the leading cause of rheumatic heart disease in developing countries.

"Rheumatic heart disease results from rheumatic fever and neglected streptococcal infections that thrive in individuals for long. Usually people living in poor conditions are exposed to infections and because of poverty they may not be in position to treat them early,” he added.

The group of 47 experts is on the fifth visit to Rwanda with over 50 successful heart operations already carried out in the country.

They include cardiologists, surgeons, nurses, perfusionist, anaesthetists, physicians and volunteers who will be involved in cardiac transplants, heart valve repairs and replacements in patients between 15 to 38 years old.

Heart operations are among the most expensive surgeries and the total cost of a single operation could go over Rwf 18 million ($25,000).

Globally, Rheumatic heart disease affects more than 32 million people, 80 per cent of whom live in the developing world. Children and young adults are the most affected, accounting for many of the 275,000 people who die from the disease annually. Pregnant women are at particularly high risk of death.

Dr Evarist Ntaganda, the head of cardiovascular disease at Rwanda Biomedical Centre, commended the work of the team but advised the public to treat infections at an early stage.

"Our population needs to focus on care and treatment at an early stage. If it is tonsillitis, make sure you treat it immediately before it could cause other serious complications,” Ntaganda said.

Dr Nathan Ruhamya, a senior cardiologist at King Faisal Hospital, called on the public to desist from practices that endanger their cardiovascular systems.

"Most of these diseases are connected to lifestyle such as drinking, smoking and limited exercise. These are habits we need to discard,” Ruhamya said.

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