Project Overview

Africa faces a tragic shortage of cardiovascular care. Our effort is focusing on a region of Tanzania with no cardiac specialists, helping KCMC hospital to build a comprehensive cardiovascular center to serve 15 million people. These dynamic partnerships are already making a difference.

We are supporting planning and construction of the KCMC Cardiovascular Centre. It will offer treatment for children and adults with heart disease, equipped with one two operating rooms (ORs), and two cath labs. It will have 125 beds, as well as an outpatient clinic for diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.

Construction will begin in 2024. The center will open in stages, in late 2025 and early 2026. The estimated cost of construction and equipment is $11 mil. Its equivalent in the U.S. might cost $100 mil. A relatively small investment in Tanzania can have a big impact.

Our Partners

KCMC

The hospital is a large complex with 2,000 students, and 1,300 staff. KCMC has affiliated medical and nursing schools, and a research center. KCMC is a public/private partnership between the Evangelical Lutheran Church under the Good Samaritan Foundation of Tanzania, and the government of Tanzania, with support from the Tanzanian Ministry of Health.

Minnesota Chapter of the American College of Cardiology

Minnesota Chapter of the American College of Cardiology is supporting KCMC clinicians with patient consults now, and expects to provide in-person training and mentorship when the Tanzanian cardiac team returns from India to open the KCMC cardiac center.

Global Heartcare Foundation

The Global Heartcare Foundation is supporting sending a team of Tanzanian physicians, nurses and technicians for cardiac training to Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and to India for up to three years. They will return to Tanzania to serve as the staff of the new cardiac center. This education plan is modeled on a successful pilot program in Ethiopia, developed by Foundation's founder, Dr. Vib Kshettry, training Ethiopia's first full cardiac surgery team.

ZGT Overzee Foundation

A team of experts in the Netherlands is also engaged. This includes consultants in vascular surgery, cardiology, and cardiac surgery from ZGT Hospitals, Almelo-Hengelo and MST Hospital, Enschede, as well as experts in IT and solar energy. ZGT Overzee foundation is coordinating this work.

Our History

The Foundation for Cardiovascular Care in Africa (FCCA) has grown out of a highly successful Minnesota partnership to support KCMC in specialty training. For over 30 years, a group of Minnesota physicians, hospital administrators and advocates have supported the development of radiology and imaging at KCMC, beginning with the East Africa Medical Assistance Foundation. In 2013 they expanded the partnership to support KCMC’s development of cancer care, with an emphasis right from the start on children. Now they are working to support creation of KCMC’s first cardiovascular center, serving a catchment area of 15 mil people. FCCA experts in Minnesota are helping with health facility design, medical equipment planning, and operational and financial planning. KCMC now has a “shovel-ready” plan for construction, start-up, and longer-term operations of the center so it is sustainable.

Project Overview