New Heart Valve Tissue Bank at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital
The first state-of-the-art human Heart Valve Tissue Bank will be set at the Lady Ridgeway Hospial in Colombo soon to treat new born babies and children with congenital heart diseases, a project initiated by the Rotary District 3220.
This was stated by District Governor Senake Amarasinghe at a media briefing held at the Galadari Hotel Colombo last week. He said 95 per cent of the work of the Tissue Bank has been completed and will be ready in a few months time.” Of the 1000 new born babies in Sri Lanka 6-8 are born with heart defects. Estimates show that 2500 to 3000 children are born with heart diseases. A majority of these cases are curable if surgery or medical intervention is available at the proper time,” he told reporters.
Meanwhile to coincide with the Rotary Foundation’s 100th anniversary, a new website has been launched incorporating the projects undertaken in Sri Lanka by the Rotary, Rotaract Club and Interact Club that falls under the umbrella of Rotary Foundation over the years.
Mr. Amarasinghe said the Heart Valve Bank procures human hearts from suitable donors for use in heart value replacement surgery. The hearts are procured from cadavers (corpses) after obtaining written consent from the relatives unless there is prior written consent given by the donor himself prior to the death. The hospital staff will dissect the aortic and pulmonary valves from the heart and disinfect it using antibiotic solutions. Thereafter the valves are stored in ultra-low temperature freezers that will be supplied to operating theaters at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital and other cardiac surgical operating theaters in Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile a study conducted by the professional unit at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital showed that the fatality rate among children with heart diseases was 18 per cent within a period of one year with Congenital Heart Disease being a major killer of children and a main contributing factor to the infant mortality rate in Sri Lanka. It had been found that that it is easy to obtain donors as donating body organs is considered a noble deed in Sri Lanka.
Mr. Amarasinghe said following the Tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka, past District Governor Kerstin Thouwart from Germany who was on holiday in Sri Lanka visited the Mahamodera Maternity Hospital in Galle and having assessed the damage caused to the hospital was able to raise Rs 241.5 million from 200 Rotary Clubs in Germany. She also obtained medical equipment to the value of Rs. 128.8 million and further raised a sum of Rs. 44.7 million by way of a global grant from the Rotary Foundation in the US. She also arranged for a team of doctors from Germany to visit Sri Lanka on four occasions and a team of Sri Lanka doctors and nurses to visit Germany on two occasions. The Rotary Club was able to construct three new wards with 144 beds at the Mahamodara Hospital from money received from Germany. He said the Mahamodera hospital will receive another 300 million of Euros from Germany owing to the untiring efforts of Ms. Thouwart.
Referring to the ‘fight against cancer’ a project Rotary Club of Colombo started 12 years ago, he said each year around 20,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed in Sri Lanka of which 50 per cent are females. Most patients finally lose their lives primarily due to delays in seeking medical attention. The Rotary Club’s cancer detection facility centre at Narahenpita operates a comprehensive breast cancer screening with Mammography Machine and Ultra Sound Scanner donated by the Rotary Club of Birmingham Alabama USA. Others who spoke at the media briefing were District Governor Elect Dr. Somawanse Thero, District Advisor Krish Rajendra and the past President of the Rotary Club Dr.Rohantha Athukorala.