Zimbabwe MP gets new lease of life after undergoing surgery in Coimbatore hospital

COIMBATORE: When 62-year-old Zimbabwe member of parliament Hon W K Mutomba walked into Coimbatore-based Gem Hospitals on Monday last week, he could not even explain his problem without severe belching and coughing every few seconds. He was consuming extremely less water and liquid foods. Doctors realised that his food pipe was enlarged and almost blocked fully.

Mutomba, an MP from Buhera North Constituency and member of the central committee of Zimbabwe, had a history of suffering from Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD). The GERD was because he was suffering from hiatal hernia, a condition where the stomach slide up through the opening in the diaphragm, called hiatus, and starts pushing into the chest.

The diaphragm, the thin skeletal muscle which separates the chest and the stomach, has a hole, called the hiatus, for the esophagus to pass through and reach the stomach.

Last year, Mutomba underwent a surgery in Zambian general hospital to correct the issue. “They made a long incision from my chest right down to my pubis. I was in the intensive care unit for more than two and half weeks, and after that too I could never eat or drink water properly because I would vomit. The pain was unbearable,” he said. The operating surgeon’s friend, who had trained in Gem Hospitals a few years ago, recommended that they travel to India for treatment.

Dr Parthasarathi, head of esophagogastric surgery, in Gem Hospitals, said the surgery was done incorrectly and complications had occurred. “As a result, we found that the hiatus was made bigger, the stomach was stuffed so tightly into it that the food pipe’s opening into the stomach was almost fully blocked,” he said. “We also found all the organs like large intestine, left lobe of the liver, diaphragm and stomach were all plastered together and were also stuck to the surgery scar,” he said.

The doctors, on Wednesday last week, decided to perform a laparascopic surgery. They made five key holes, and slowly began disentangling and separating the organs, ensuring none of them were damaged. “It took us three hours to just reach the spot where the surgery was performed and 45 minutes to relieve the obstruction and correct the hernia,” he said.

The doctors said they performed a fundoplication surgery, which is taking a portion of the stomach and wrapping it around the lower portion of the food pipe.

Mutomba said he could not believe that he was able to walk in the morning after surgery and could drink liquids comfortably the very next day. He thanked the doctors for saving his life and invited them to set up a similar hospital in Zimbabwe.

“People in Zimbabwe do not know that such technologies and skilled doctors exist. A hospital in South Africa comes close to this, but they could slot me an appointment only in August,” he said.