Putting the heart into training

An Australian-first program developed by St Vincent’s has continued to expand the number of upskilled surgeons in Kenya equipped to provide critical specialised surgery to patients in rural Africa suffering from heart complications.

Global connection
Dr Matthew Read, an Upper Gastrointestinal surgeon at St Vincent’s, played a key role in establishing this unique training experience after spending time working at Tenwek Hospital in early 2020.

“Being involved in this program has been the most rewarding and impactful experience of my career,” said Dr Read.

The training program involves surgeons rotating through the cardiac, thoracic, upper gastrointestinal and vascular surgical units at St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne.

It also provides education into management systems that could be adopted to improve patient flow and the benefits of a multidisciplinary approach to care.

Through the program, Dr Lando has been trained in coronary bypass surgeries and essential skills to support patients with coronary artery disease – a disease which has recently become more common in the African population.

The program has also equipped Dr Lando with expertise in video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery and the ability to conduct minimally invasive surgeries including laparoscopic and robotic-assisted surgeries.

Dr Justus Landon and Dr Matthew Read

Building local knowledge
Prior to the introduction of this exchange program, Tenwek Hospital had no surgeons equipped to perform these types of surgeries, which meant the operations could only be conducted every few months when a skilled surgeon visited Kenya.

The first surgeon from Kenya to complete the program was Dr Keith Dindi. Since returning to Africa, Dr Dindi has used his new skills to perform 250 surgeries and has trained six local surgeons in the new techniques.

“The local expertise in rural Kenya will be significantly strengthened as Justus returns to join Keith at Tenwek,” said Dr Read.

Dr Lando described his time training at St Vincent’s as extremely valuable and his newly acquired skills could not have been better timed, with Tenwek Hospital opening a new cardiacthoracic unit last year. The new unit will boost access to care for millions of people from Sub Saharan Africa.

“Everybody at St Vincent’s has been so supportive and hospitable ­– ready to help and ready to teach. It has also given me the opportunity to get hands-on time,” said Dr Lando.

“The program has been an exciting and important experience for me to be able to train other surgeons back home to have the same skills so we can continue to improve the level of care for our patients in Africa,” Dr Lando said.