Since 1999, Save a Child’s Heart (SACH) has treated more than 900 children from Tanzania and Zanzibar and trained a pediatric cardiac surgeon, two pediatric cardiologists, one pediatric anesthesiologist, one intensive care specialist, two perfusionists, and six nurses, all of whom are now practicing locally.

Tanzania has only one pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. Godwin Godfrey, who completed a 5-year SACH training program in 2013 at Wolfson Medical Center in Israel and returned to Tanzania to run a pediatric cardiac center. Additionally, SACH trained a full pediatric cardiac team, comprising pediatric cardiologists, an anesthesiologist, a perfusionist, and a nursing team, who are supporting Dr. Godwin.

Since the return of Dr. Godwin to Tanzania, he and his team have been performing surgery on children with heart disease independently, as well as operating together with surgeons from visiting delegations from Israel, Australia, Italy, the United States, and Saudi Arabia.



In recent years SACH’s activities in Tanzania and Zanzibar have been sponsored by Save a Child’s Heart Canada. 

Since 2011 SACH sends medical missions to Tanzania to treat children, train medical team members for Surgery and Catheterization. Also, each year SACH holds a joint Israeli-German mission for Catheterization in partnership with a German medical team from the Deutsches Herzzentrum Heart Center in Berlin.

Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) is a National Specialized and University Teaching Hospital offering cardiovascular care, training and research services. Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute was established in October 2015 by the Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac (Establishment) Instrument, 2015 .The Institute has 103 bed capacity attending on average 700 outpatients and 100 inpatients per week.

The Institute has 203 employees organized into six directorates which are Cardiology services, Surgical Services, Nursing Services, Clinical Support Services and Corporate Services. These directorates are sub-divided into 16 departments.

Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) is a Government owned hospital which serves patients from across all regions of United Republic of Tanzania who are referred from regional referral and designated hospitals for cardiovascular medical intervention.

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