The Academic Hospital Paramaribo (AZP) and the Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC) have been collaborating for approximately fifty years in the fields of neurosurgery and heart disease.
Vascular surgeons Jan van Schaik and Daniël Eefting (also partly affiliated with Haaglanden Medisch Centrum) recently traveled to Suriname to assist with a life-saving operation at the Academic Hospital Paramaribo. The procedure took place within a week of an accident that caused the injuries.
In this serious accident, a young patient had suffered such severe damage to his aorta that he could not be treated in Suriname. The required expertise and equipment for such complex procedures are not available there. Transport to a neighbouring country was also impossible due to the patient’s unstable condition.
The patient’s fate personally affected Pieter Voigt, the country’s only cardiac surgeon, and he reached out to his network in Leiden. The Academic Hospital Paramaribo and LUMC have worked together for about fifty years in neurosurgery and heart disease. This long-standing relationship made it possible to act quickly.
The request ultimately reached Jan van Schaik. Aortic injuries that can be treated through the blood vessels fall under vascular surgery, which is a different specialty from cardiac surgery. Van Schaik did not hesitate and received approval from LUMC to develop a plan. Shortly afterward, he and colleague Daniël Eefting were on a plane to perform the operation at AZP together with the local medical team.
Van Schaik said: “We ultimately performed the operation in one of the available treatment rooms intended for cardiac catheterization. From the Netherlands, we brought exactly the equipment we needed and had to manage with that. At LUMC, after plans A, B, and C, you still have more options. This time, it had to go right in one go. Thanks to the excellent collaboration with the AZP team, we succeeded.”
The procedure was successful, and the patient is recovering well. He is expected to return home soon. The costs of the treatment were covered by the hospital in Paramaribo and the Surinamese Health Fund.”
