NZ medical team to help in Zambia 

Source: ONE NewsNZ medics help with life-saving heart surgery in Zambia

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New Zealand medics have launched a plan to carry out life-saving heart surgery in Zambia.

A team of medical experts aim to save over 100 lives in Zambia by setting up the country's first ever cardiac unit.

The 35 person unit was inspired by Munanga Mwandila in Christchurch who has related tales of his homeland's health system to colleagues.

"There is a huge burden with conditions such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. These are conditions which take up the bulk of the health resources," Dr Mwandila told ONE News.

With most of Zambia's 12 million people living in poverty, the team plan to make five trips to Zambia over the next five years to perform the country's first ever heart operations.

Cardiac surgeon Harsh Singh will lead the team, who have all volunteered their time for the project.

"It's going to be a big undertaking, [but] a lot of people have raised their hands and it's just amazing to see," says Singh.

"The way they are taking ownership and putting so much effort into it is something that's really amazed me.

"We'll go each year and be able to train the local staff, medical as well as paramedical staff, to actually be able to deliver it in the future themselves."

The team aim to treat around 100 young Zambians with rheumatic heart disease: a condition which destroys the heart valves and causes premature death.

"Usually this disease manifests clinically at that age in the twenties and thirties and so that would be the target population to look at in this instant," adds Singh.

The group of medical staff will operate at the university hospital in the capital Lusaka where they will provide their own equipment and drugs.