AfricaPress-Tanzania: JAKAYA Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) ability to attend to emergency cases has shrunk to minimal levels, managing director Prof Mohammed Janabi declared yesterday.
Appealing to members of the public to take the COVID-19 vaccine urgently, he said that ICU beds at the facility are overwhelmed by patients.
The director was providing awareness training on vaccination and effects of the disease to staff at the International School of Tanganyika (IST) in Upanga area of the city, after which voluntary COVID-19 vaccination was administered.
Responding to a question from a staff member who wanted to know the time to vaccinate a person suffering from blood pressure, Prof Janabi said the person can be vaccinated and continue with his blood pressure drugs, noting that a person with blood pressure may suffer a stroke if he stops using the drugs.
“Blood pressure drugs should not be missed even for a minute, as blood pressure destroys blood vessels, as does COVID-19. I would like you to come to our institute to witness how our ICU facilities are flooded with patients,” he said.
“Come to see how patients get a hard time in all of our ICU rooms given the number of COVID-19 patients. I am telling you this today, the final decision is yours – to vaccinate or not to vaccinate,” he insisted.
He appealed to IST staff to stop asking themselves whether to vaccinate if one already suffers from a chronic disease-, or they should protect themselves against the pandemic.
“Which would be easier, to be infected with Covis-10 or blood pressure? Or you come (to JKCI) while suffering from both blood pressure and COVID-19?
“There was the first wave, second wave and now third wave. I don’t want to remind you of people who lost their lives. The lives of so many people have been lost; we have never witnessed such a great number of deaths within a short time. It is therefore the decision of every one of us,” the top medic intoned.
He also sought to allay fears of those loathing being vaccinated, giving the JKCI experience with treatment. “We perform major health operations; we stop the heart for up to four or six hours and then restart it by electric shock. Hence I want you to believe us that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe.”
Glancing at vaccination statistics at the JKCI vaccination centre he said that up to Tuesday more than 3,500 had been vaccinated and no one reported back with any complaints.
For his part, IST director Mark Hardeman said the school decided to call the heart expert to provide education on COVID-19 vaccination to its staff after being satisfied with government efforts to fight the pandemic through mobilising the public to embrace the vaccination drive.
The school has 260 staff members who will now have a better understanding of the benefits of protecting themselves against the pandemic, he added.
