Kaisha wins Nairobi Hospital golf tourney

Hundreds of needy children with heart problems are set to benefit from free open-heart surgeries at The Nairobi Hospital following the launch of this year's children's charity heart fund golf tournament.

The hospital had set out to raise over Ksh 10 million from corporate sponsors from the one- day golf tournament held in Karen Country Club, Nairobi, on Friday last week to support children from across the country who have heart complications.

Alvin Kaisha played for 43 points to emerge the overall winner of the inaugural competition as Muburi Muita emerged as the men’s category winner with 42 points. Muita finished ahead of Simon Mwangi who returned 41 points.

“I am happy to have taken part in this tournament whose theme is giving little hearts big dreams. Let us support our children with heart problems by transforming Kenya into a preferred destination for treatment in Africa," Amb. Muita, who is the chairperson of Kenya Medical Training College, said after picking his prize.

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Belinda Mulindi emerged the lady winner ahead of Kalee Maleli who played for 36 points. Eddie Ouko and Davies Ndambuki emerged the board member and staff winner respectively. Felix Osano won the nearest pin award while George Thuo and Dennis Kirui picked the best nine awards.

“Over the years, The Nairobi Hospital's charity arm has sponsored free heart operations for needy children aged 0-12 years with congenital heart conditions. This initiative has benefitted more than 380 deserving children from different parts of the country,” the hospital's chief executive officer James Nyamongo explained while addressing sponsors and golfers during the event.

This year, the hospital partnered with corporates and other well-wishers to raise funds to cater for the treatment of 20 children with heart complications.

Some of the corporates that are taking part in this year's charity drive include Generies Africa, Sciencescope, NCBA Bank, and Crown Healthcare. Others are Smart Applications, Surgipharm, Bio-quest Ltd, among others.

The hospital's boss appealed for more support to enable the affected children realize their dreams because of the heart procedures' high costs.

“The cost of heart surgery and post-surgery care ranges between Ksh 550,000 to Ksh 800,000 per child depending on the complexity of the heart condition. We sincerely appeal to our partners to consider adopting one or more children to facilitate their surgery,” Nyamongo continued.

According to World Health Organization, over 5,000 children require congenital heart surgery in Kenya each year and the number of children who do not receive these interventions is daunting.

On an annual basis, Kenya performs between 120 and 150 congenital open-heart operations whereas 50 to 100 additional patients receive treatment outside Kenya, most of whom are self-funded.

The annual charity tourney has been running for two years now and organisers are planning for a bigger and better event last year with a target of Ksh 20 million to support more children.