The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL 

Tribune Staff Reporter 

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A NEWLY married doctor successfully had a pump implant yesterday, a critical step toward receiving a heart transplant.

Dr Gemma Rolle, president of the Medical Association of The Bahamas, said Dr Ajita Wallace-Pinder is now in recovery and “progressing adequately”.

“We received a call from her husband, Mr Pinder, last evening, who expressed joyous gratitude for the love and support shown to Dr Ajita from the physician collective,” she said. “Dr Wallace-Pinder will be in full recovery mode over the next three days. Let us continue to pray and send positive energy their way.”

A Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) is a mechanical pump that helps the heart’s left ventricle pump blood to the rest of

the body. It is often a temporary solution or bridge to a heart transplant, which can take months to happen.

Dr Wallace-Pinder, 41, a member of Princess Margaret Hospital’s internal medical team, was airlifted out of the country on Friday.

Her family created a GoFundMe account to raise $200,000. As of press time, the account had raised $102,731.

“When we think of a heart transplant, we are talking millions of dollars, and quotes of three million being passed around probably just scratch the surface because it is not just the

actual surgery we are covering,” Dr Rolle said during a press conference last week.

“We are covering the care to keep her going until she gets this transplant, and then there is the aftercare, the rehab, all she has to endure thereafter just to get back on that battlefield with us.”