The Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), which has pioneered medical feats in the past, has done it again. The latest milestone is the first “beating-heart bypass surgery” that has just been performed at this premier public referral hospital.
This advanced technique allows surgeons to operate directly on a patient’s heart while it is still beating, thus eliminating the need for a heart-lung machine. The KNH has made medical history by performing the first-ever off-pump (beating-heart) coronary artery bypass surgery in East and Central Africa.
Experts describe it as off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. Ideally, the heart is stopped when surgeons carry out such complex procedures, and the patient is instead placed on a heart machine. But this procedure is less invasive for the patients, which is good for them.
This latest project has confirmed the huge unmet demand for such specialised healthcare, with patient numbers by far exceeding the estimates. The KNH is this week performing 11 surgeries in collaboration with doctors from Canada, Japan and Sweden.
By skipping the traditional method of stopping the heart, the experts say the technique significantly reduces surgical complications, lessens bleeding, and enables faster recovery for patients
The first kidney transplant in this country was performed at this very hospital in 1978. Other key medical achievements include the blood transfusion to an unborn baby inside the mother’s uterus in 2023. A highly successful procedure was also undertaken to salvage the limb of a young patient with bone cancer.
In another feat in 2024, doctors performed the first-ever laparoscopic kidney surgery in a public hospital. Last year, KNH surgeons carried out a historic heart surgery using technology that makes it less painful. KNH also performed the country’s first technology-assisted kidney transplant.
This latest breakthrough has given hope to patients needing specialised treatment. It is also a vote of confidence in the public health sector.
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