THE Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) has promised to reach all the regions in the country to provide expert heart treatment services to the citizens through specialized diagnostic and treatment camps.

Dr. Pedro Pallangyo, JKCI head of training and research unit disclosed this here yesterday when speaking to journalists before the start of the specialized heart screening and treatment camp known as Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan Outreach Services 

“Through this outreach medical service, JKCI has so far been able to reach 13 regions and serve 11,254 citizens," said Dr Pedro, stating: “This is the second year for the institute to hold special camp at the Iringa Regional Referral Hospital (IRRH) to put together a collective effort to serve the Tanzanian community in need of specialist heart treatment services.

Dr Pedro said that Tanzania is big and JKCI is the only government institutions specializing in heart treatment, so all citizens cannot reach the institution in Dar es Salaam.

"When we come to a camp like this, we know that five days is not enough, but we can at least provide services at the level we hoped to do, at least those who were unable to travel are provided with services", said Dr. Pedro.

Dr Scholastica Malangalila, IRRH acting Physician thanked the Ministry of Health and JKCI for delivering specialist services to the people of Iringa.

She said that according to the actual situation of the people of the Iringa Region, not all those with heart problems could come to JKCI to be treated, so through the camp, people get a chance to examine their health and those with heart problems get a chance to be treated.

Dr. Scholastica said that the response of the people has been greater than they expected, so she asked JKCI to continue to deliver such kind of services in the Iringa region regularly.

"We’ve seen ourselves when we arrived here in the morning, people were already full waiting to get services, and today is the first day. I believe the remaining four days if the people continue to come like today will not be enough, so this service is still needed for our citizens", she said.

One of the Iringa residents who attended the camp, Celestine Masele, thanked the government for bringing professional services closer to the citizens.

Celestine said the presence of health professionals who are experts in heart treatment provides an opportunity for citizens to screen their health and when they are found to have heart problems they start taking early treatment. “We thank you very much for your visit, we ask that whenever you get a chance, come to us so that we can build habits to check our health regularly," he said.

The special cardiac treatment camp will provide diagnostic and cardiac treatment services including blood pressure testing and blood sugar testing.