Unhealthy lifestyle choices and diets mean more Eastern Cape children need specialized gastroscopic treatment for acid problems and stomach infections.
Thanks to a newly acquired paediatric flexible video oesophagogastroscope at the Frere Hospital Carte Blanche theatre, more children from the age of infancy needing internal procedures will now have a fighting chance at life.
Two little patients were the first in line to be operated on using the new equipment, and Frere Hospital CEO Rolene Wagner said the gastroscope would greatly serve kids in the province.
“Frere is the first hospital to acquire this equipment in the province so it’s a great milestone for us towards ensuring that we deliver world-class care in a constrained environment,” Wagner said.
“We have a very limited budget for capital equipment in the province and so you have to prioritise within that budget.
“This equipment enables us to provide further services our community clearly needs and save the lives of children.” Paediatric surgery unit head Dr Milind Chitnis said the hospital would now be able to treat more children each week.
“We were dependent on sharing the only gastroscopy monitor with all the adult patients in the hospital, and could only use it on children once a week for two hours,” he said.
“We’ll now be able to operate on children 24 hours a day, every day. We couldn’t do that before.”
He said, for the procedure, children are anaesthetised, and the tube is put through their mouths and down into the stomach. Through that, a team are able to look into the intestines and take small biopsies.
“This is another way we’ll revolutionalise healthcare provided for children,” he said.
Zikhona Nduneni’s 11-year-old boy was one of the two patients to undergo surgery with the oesophagogastroscope on Thursday.
“He began vomiting blood in January and we didn’t know why, but after the operation he’s been normal again.
“We were even able to go home on the same day. I’m very happy,” she said. — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za
New equipment changes lives at Frere
Thanks to a newly acquired paediatric flexible video oesophagogastroscope at the Frere Hospital Carte Blanche theatre, more children from the age of infancy needing internal procedures will now have a fighting chance at life.
Two little patients were the first in line to be operated on using the new equipment, and Frere Hospital CEO Rolene Wagner said the gastroscope would greatly serve kids in the province.
“Frere is the first hospital to acquire this equipment in the province so it’s a great milestone for us towards ensuring that we deliver world-class care in a constrained environment,” Wagner said.
“We have a very limited budget for capital equipment in the province and so you have to prioritise within that budget.
“This equipment enables us to provide further services our community clearly needs and save the lives of children.” Paediatric surgery unit head Dr Milind Chitnis said the hospital would now be able to treat more children each week.
“We were dependent on sharing the only gastroscopy monitor with all the adult patients in the hospital, and could only use it on children once a week for two hours,” he said.
“We’ll now be able to operate on children 24 hours a day, every day. We couldn’t do that before.”
He said, for the procedure, children are anaesthetised, and the tube is put through their mouths and down into the stomach. Through that, a team are able to look into the intestines and take small biopsies.
“This is another way we’ll revolutionalise healthcare provided for children,” he said.
Zikhona Nduneni’s 11-year-old boy was one of the two patients to undergo surgery with the oesophagogastroscope on Thursday.
“He began vomiting blood in January and we didn’t know why, but after the operation he’s been normal again.
“We were even able to go home on the same day. I’m very happy,” she said. — nonsindisoq@dispatch.co.za
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