Dr.  Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc. yesterday proudly announced that it has successfully performed an off- pump (beating heart surgery) coronary artery bypass graft (CABG).

The hospital operated on three-year-old Gayona Bissoondyal and her sister, five-year-old Tiana Bissoondyal, who both had heart ailments.
These announcements were made at a press conference yesterday at Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital Inc., East Street, Georgetown.
Off pump CABG or beating heart surgery offers the advantage of avoiding the complications and side effects of a heart-lung machine and encourages faster recovery from the heart surgery.
Skills and Experience
Off pump CABG involves operating on the heart while it is beating and that is an extremely difficult task, but surgeons with good skills and experience, along with the support of special instruments, can perform it very comfortably and efficiently.
Administrator of the hospital, Dr. Madhu Singh, said that this is the first heart surgery of this nature that has been done in Guyana. She noted that the hospital has the capacity to perform such surgeries now and patients do not need to travel overseas to have these surgeries done.
Dr. Madhu Singh said further, that the money the Government of Guyana and the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) have been spending to send patients overseas can be given to the hospital to conduct these surgeries.
When posed with the question during the press conference about the cost of these surgeries, she stated that their “prices are competitive (lower) than those of the CHI.”
She pointed out that with the surgeries being done at the hospital now, patients will definitely save money. In addition, patients could have more family members around them while the recovery process will be faster and the complications will be less.
Performing the surgery on the two sisters was cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr. Ratan Kumar Das from India, who has ten years of experience in performing such surgeries. He is also capable of doing all types of cardiac, thoracic and vascular surgeries like coronary artery bypass grafting, beating and non-beating heart, valve repair and valve replacement, and surgeries of the lung, among others.
He said that it was a joy to help the patients get better and noted that their recovery rate is moving along beautifully. He further stated that his patients should be back in the comfort of their homes within a few days.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Chronicle got the opportunity to visit the two children who were operated on and also spoke to their mother, Moushimi Bissoondyal.
She said that her daughters have had the heart condition for a couple of years now. Moushimi said that she went to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and was told that she would have to travel to India with her daughters to get the surgery done.
However, someone advised her to visit Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital for a check-up and advice. She was then informed that the hospital could perform the surgery and with a grateful heart she says thanks to the hospital and to God for saving her daughters’ lives.
The hospital’s state-of-the-art catheterization laboratory has been in operation for more than eight months and they have performed about 150 coronary angiograms, and more than 30 angioplasties (coronary stenting). In its effort to bring quality health care to the Guyanese people, the hospital said that it has been constantly upgrading its medical facilities.
The hospital also stated that it is aiming to be the centre of medical excellence in the diagnosis and treatment of heart ailments and allied diseases, not only in Guyana but in the Caribbean as well.
Meanwhile, the Guyana Chronicle understands that Minister of Health Dr. Bheri Ramsaran is expected to visit the hospital tomorrow.
Dr. Das and his team will be in Guyana and at the Dr. Balwant Singh’s Hospital up until Saturday and in that time the hospital will be offering free heart screening for children from birth to age 12.