Local heart surgeon educates and operates in Tanzanian hospital

Just like the United States, the African country of Tanzania -- formally, The United Republic of Tanzania -- needs more medical personnel, and, just like all doctors and nurses, they need ongoing training.

Bruce Jones, a cardiothoracic surgeon from Cape Girardeau, recently returned from an eight-day mission to Tanzania where he performed surgery on patients suffering from rheumatic heart disease. These surgeries doubled as necessary training for the surgeons and medical personnel at the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania.

Dar es Salaam, on the east coast of Africa, is the largest city and the financial hub of Tanzania. The JKCI website states the facility is a national specialized teaching hospital established in October 2015. The Institute has a 103-bed capacity attending, on average, 700 outpatients and 100 inpatients per week.

"This is the only hospital, in a country of 6.4 million people, that does heart surgery," Jones said. "So, there's obviously a real need for further education. People over there, if they have a heart attack, they just die because they can't make it to the JKCI hospital."

Jones said he has been on multiple missions to Tanzania, and the most recent was sponsored by two nongovernmental organizations -- Madaktari-Africa and CardioStart International.

The mission focus, as stated on CardioStart's website, is adult and pediatric cardiac surgery and to provide support and guidance to the local surgeons, anesthesiologists and nurses.

"My impetus is to teach them some minimally invasive techniques," Jones said. "So, we try to alleviate any potential infections that can happen with big incisions."

Jones said rheumatic heart disease is currently more prevalent in Africa than in the U.S. due to lack of access to medical care. He said it progresses from strep throat to rheumatic fever to which, if left untreated, the body's response is an inflammatory process that then affects the heart.

"The cases we see are quite advanced because the people don't come in and see a physician when they get sick," Jones said. "Unfortunately, by the time we see them some of the cases are not operative due to the amount of damage to their heart."

Jones said many of the medical professionals at JKCI have been trained overseas in Australia, England and the U.S. He said they are enthusiastic about learning.

"I have I've been approached by two of the surgeons who said they would like to come over and spend a couple of weeks with me and watch surgery over here in the United States," Jones said.

Jones said during his service in the U.S. Navy he traveled a lot and developed a love of other cultures, and over the years his heart has been drawn to the people of Africa.

"I've been over there a number of times," Jones said. "The people are amazing. Just honest people that need help. The patients I've met are so grateful. In America, it seems people will pitch a fit if they only get one mint on their pillow instead of two. In Tanzania, the people are just happy to have the help."

Jones said he often seeks out medical personnel who would be interested in going on a mission like this in Tanzania or other developing countries in the world.

"They're more than welcome to reach out to me," Jones said. "We need anesthesiologists, perfusionists and physician assistants. I'm more than willing to make a connection with Madaktari-Africa or CardioStart, or even coordinate a trip with them."