Tikur Anbessa Hospital’s Cardiac Care Center Gets Renovated
ADDIS ABABA – The Ministry of Health has inaugurated a newly renovated cardiac care center located inside Addis Ababa University’s Tikur Anbessa Hospital.
The newly inaugurated center is the first phase of a project that the ministry is carrying out jointly with the Government of the Netherlands as per their agreement signed in May, 2018.
The seven-year agreement, which targets to build Ethiopia’s first specialized Cardiac Care Center, aims to address the critical shortage of cardiology services in the East African nation.
The first phase of the project was inaugurated on Monday in the presence of Health Minister Lia Tadesse, Netherlands Ambassador to Ethiopia, Henk Jan Bakker, and AAU President, Prof Tasew Woldehanna.
Ethiopia currently has the highest prevalence of rheumatic heart disease – largely preventable and often caused by non-treated throat infections.
Health Minister Dr. Lia said the government is exerting efforts to address the critical shortage of cardiology services, adding the first phase of the project would help to bring sustainable and equitable cardiac care in the country.
The said the first phase involves renovation and equipping of Cardiac Care Center of the Tikur Anbessa Hospital.
It also includes an operation Room for open heart surgery, a Catheterization laboratory, Intensive care unit and other key facilities installed at a cost of around 2.6 million Euros.
“The second phase is construction of a state of the art cardiac center in the hospital with a full range of cardiovascular diagnostic and treatment services that will save many lives,” said the minister.
The specialized cardiac care renovation and construction project would cost a total of 40 million Euro with Royal Philips, an international health tech company, carrying out a full turnkey design, construction, equipping and commissioning of the center’s location, among others.
The total budget is funded by the governments of Ethiopia and the Netherlands, said AAU President Professor Tasew.
Upon completion, the center will have the physical capacity to perform 500 surgeries, 1,600 cath lab diagnosis, and 500 cath lab interventions once operational, according to Philips.
