This week, the 21-year-old patient was operated on and treated at the Job Shimankane Tabane Hospital in Rustenburg. Sambatha disclosed that the patient was successfully treated for a congenital cardiac condition called Atrial Septal Defect using a percutaneous technique in the catheterisation lab for closure of the defect. 

Hole between two chambers of the heart

An atrial septal defect is a hole between two chambers of the heart causing a mix of blood and if not closed in time it may cause serious complications in the future. Sambatha praised the collaborative efforts between the hospital and Life Peglarae medical teams. Sambatha visited the hospital on Thursday to congratulate a team of specialists, nurses, and management of the facility after the operation.

“We are here to celebrate a very good performance that they have just done on the operation, and this performance that they have just done is an indication of how ready the hospital is, how ready the province is based on universal health coverage, which is NHI. They’ve done this working very well with the private sector. We don’t have private patients or public patients. We have patients and these patients have to be attended to based on the need and not based on having a medical aid or not having medical aid,” said Sambatha.

Intricacy of the procedure

The cardiologist, Dr Kabelo Raphala, explained the intricacy of the procedure.

“The procedure needed detailed planning which involve three cardiologists, two cardiac technicians, cardiac-trained sisters, and anaesthetists. The procedure took about three and half hours. It was challenging as it was the first for most of us but due to God’s grace, the procedure was successful. The patient is doing well post-op,” he said.

Raphala thanked the whole team who was part of the operation, including Sambatha for acknowledging their work. While the mother of the patient, Motshidisi Lekaba, also appreciated the work that was done by the hospital and the healthcare system.

OFM News