ADDIS ABABA – Cardiac Center-Ethiopia said 7,000 cardiac patients are in a waiting list while resource constraints have confined the services to only 500 patients a year.
“A third of the Center’s potential is now being utilized,” Center’s Administration and Finance Head, Hiruy Ali told The Ethiopian Herald.
The Center can treat up to 1,500 patients a year, but financial constraints have created a bottleneck not to operate to full capacity, according to him.
Abduljelil Aman is a father of a cardiac patient kid. He set foot in Addis’s soil from a rural part of the country to. He said he had been on the list for about a year before admitting his son to the Center.
His son was referred to the Center after two years of treatment at Tikur Anbesa Specialized Hospital, according to him.
“My son is now getting the required treatment. I am grateful for the concerned bodies who established the Center despite the long wait before admission,” he said.
For his part, Anesthesiologist at the Center Samson Adera said both the government and other concerned bodies should give increasing attention to the Center and cooperate in supplying the needed resource. “Medical professional associations, in particular, should join forces with the Center.”
Center Medical Director Dr. Helen Befekadu previously told the newsroom that in addition to saving thousands of lives, mainly children’s, their activities prevented the outflow of hard currencies, estimated to hit 15,000USD-18,000 USD per individual over the years.
Such dearly needed contributions may not continue unless pertinent public and private bodies devise funding mechanisms. “We saved close to 1.2 billion USD, including 180 million USD to medical services and 715 million USD to experts training,” she said.
Now the Center has trained experts and becomes self-reliant in this regard but funding issues limited it from delivering to expectations, making the experts idle amidst growing demands from patients, according to the director.
The Ethiopian Harald January 24/2020
BY YESUF ENDRIS
