Dakar, Feb 28 (APS) – The State of Senegal must make more resources available to the Cuemo pediatric cardio center at the Fann hospital, said Professor Amadou Gabriel Ciss, during the celebration of the thousandth heart operated by this center .
”We have operated on some 1148 patients, but we would like to do more. The State is already doing a lot of things, but we need more resources for these children,” said the cardio-pediatric surgeon on Tuesday, taking stock of the CUOMO center which was celebrating its thousandth operated heart.
He recalled that the center “reached in October 2022 the figure” of 1,000 operations. ”Of the 1148 patients operated, there are 855 children representing 75%, 293 adults and 68 foreign children, with a total of 12038 consultations and cardiologist explorations”, he noted.
“We have mobilized a budget of 7 million euros for the construction and equipment of this center for children in Senegal and Africa,” explained the president of the Cuomo foundation, Helena Cuomo. She believes that ”he must be a jewel of Senegalese medicine”, stressing that ”is a hope for the children of Senegal and the sub-region”. ”We are proud that so many children have been operated on,” she added.
The director of the Fann hospital, Cheikh Tacko Diop, says that “this center is a timely response to the management of heart disease in Senegal and in the sub-region”. According to him, “the center is facing many challenges including strengthening human resources, increasing hospitalization capacity but, above all, clearing the waiting list”.
400 children on the waiting list at CUOMO
According to Professor Ciss, “there are currently 400 children waiting to be operated on”. “These are children from Senegal, the State must provide the center with more resources, because the cost is considerable for these indulgent children,” he argued.
For the surgery, the patient must pay “an average lump sum of 3,500,000” CFA francs, he said. “We’re asking the parent to give what they have and partners like the Cuomo Foundation will top it up.” According to him, ”the real cost of the intervention is 7 million FCFA”.
With regard to heart disease, ”the first risk factor is consanguinity, that is to say a marriage between close relatives”. There are also ”certain infections during pregnancy, such as rubella”.
In addition to Senegal, the diseases come from Gambia, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Burkina Faso, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire, Cameroon, Benin, Togo, Liberia and Congo. “We still have a mortality rate of 3.8%”, regretted Professor Ciss.
Opened in January 2017, the Cuomo Pediatric Cardio Center was built by the Cuomo Foundation, in partnership with Chaine de l’Espoir and Senegal’s Ministry of Health. It was inaugurated in February 2018.