Open heart surgeries and cardiac catheterization for children were unexpectedly cancelled today due to power cuts at Tripoli University Hospital, a well-placed source informed Libya Herald.
Tripoli University Hospital’s administration was unable to assure the surgeons that if the power did return, it would not be cut again.
Moreover, although the hospital has generators, it seems they did not have adequate supplies of diesel to operate them long enough to conduct operations uninterrupted.
And although the hospital does have a Bypass machine, it does not have any batteries.
The fiasco has left the visiting US medical team kicking their heels in frustration and the parents of children awaiting operations stressed.
The US visiting team has conducted 18 operations and were expecting to conduct another two today.
It will be recalled that the visiting US medical team, the Novick Cardiac Alliance led by William M Novick and Paul Nemir Jr., of University of Tennessee Health Science Center's Global Surgical Institute, have been performing open heart surgeries and cardiac catheterization for children for the second consecutive week at Tripoli University Hospital.
The US team has been conducting these operations alongside the Libyan medical teams at the hospital’s Department of Paediatric Cardiology and Paediatric Cardiac Surgery.
The Tripoli based Libyan Ministry of Health said these operations come as part of the twinning and medical cooperation programme aimed at supporting the localization of paediatric treatment inside Libya.
Part of plan to carry out 40 operations during visit by US team
During the previous ten days of the visit, 16 open-heart surgeries and diagnostic and therapeutic cardiac catheterization were performed, all of which were successful.
Medical examinations and evaluation of cases by local medical teams and the visiting team continue, in preparation for conducting operations for the targeted cases, as part of a plan to carry out 40 operations during the visit.
The Ministry said the operations are carried out with the integrated participation of cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, nurses, anaesthesia technicians and operation nurses, as well as laboratory teams, blood banks, and administrators, reflecting the integration of medical and technical efforts to make the programme a success.
Libya’s summer of power cuts
It will be recalled that Libya has had a summer of acute power cuts and blackouts. These have led to a run on diesel supplies and a spike in its black-market price as the whole country turns diesel-powered generators to produce electricity.
US Medical Team Conducts Pediatric Cardiac Surgeries in Tripoli