New Cardiothoracic Centre Opens at Kenya's Tenwek Hospital

On Oct. 24, Samaritan’s Purse, the people of Kenya, and Tenwek Hospital celebrated the grand opening of a new cardiothoracic surgical centre in Bomet, north of Nairobi.

World Medical Mission, a medical arm of Samaritan’s Purse, has been sending doctors to Tenwek for decades. In 1981, Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham raised funds for a major building project at Tenwek. Construction on the Johana Ng’etich Medical Centre started in 1981, and the new ward opened four years later. In 2004, Samaritan’s Purse also funded the construction of an operating theatre, which has five operating rooms and other facilities. We also helped rebuild a wing there claimed by fire in 2018.

This newest addition to the medical centre was envisioned by Franklin Graham years ago alongside Tenwek surgeon Russ White.

“Franklin Graham was on a tour of the hospital and asked me, ‘Russ, what do you think about a heart hospital here at Tenwek?’” White said. “It wasn’t on my radar. It was not something I intended or thought possible. Then, over the years, my eyes were opened to the number of people, mostly young people, who really need lifesaving heart surgery. We have a list of 850 patients waiting for heart surgery.”

Eventually a plan started to unfold with the purchase of land and the vision began to seem like a possibility. The newly opened surgical centre has capacity to handle 2,000 cases a year and is the largest dedicated cardiothoracic unit in sub-Saharan Africa.

“This is a multi-story, unbelievable, world-class facility,” said Samaritan’s Purse COO Edward Graham who was joined by Kenyan President President William Samoei Ruto to celebrate this new addition. “People from all over sub-Saharan Africa and really the world will come to have heart surgery, right here at Tenwek.”

President Ruto thanked Samaritan’s Purse for our role in making the new centre a reality, expressing his “gratitude to Samaritan’s Purse for their critical support for this project.”

Tenwek Hospital is a 361-bed teaching hospital with a wide range of surgical, medical, maternity, and paediatric services. As one of the largest mission hospitals in Africa, Tenwek provides primary healthcare to hundreds of thousands of people and serves as a referral centre for the region.

“We’ve come full circle here. We are now training doctors to go back to other countries,” Dr. White said. “Rather than having to depend on Western doctors coming, we will have African doctors who are well trained. Our trainees are excellent doctors.”

Dr. Arega Leta, director of the cardiothorac surgery fellowship programme at Tenwek Hospital, said the new cardiac unit will save many lives.

“This is a testament of people committed to make a difference,” he said. “Otherwise there would not be any chance for millions of people.”

Edward Graham addressed the dedication audience and said, “It is my hope that no one ever goes into that building and leaves that building without hearing that message, that Jesus died on a cross and His blood washed away the sins of the earth. That is the ultimate heart surgery. That’s how you change the heart of man. That’s how you change the world.”

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