Six Tongans are undergoing historic pacemaker surgery at Vaiola Hospital performed by a team of volunteer medical practitioners from New Zealand.
Matangi Tonga reported the surgeries, which are continuing today, marked an historic moment for health in Tonga.
The patients, aged between 77 and 90 years, had already had pacemakers inserted but need to have them replaced.
Vaiola Hospital Photo: RNZ Pacific / Koro Vaka'uta
The surgery team is part of an organisation called Pacific Island Pacemakers Services.
Sione Latu, Cardiologist at Vaiola Hospital, said normally Tongans had to travel overseas to get the same pacemaker procedure done at a high cost.
Dr Latu said to take a just one patient to New Zealand, it would cost more than $US15,000 for a pacemaker operation.
Instead, he said the local Government had been fortunate enough to be able to purchase pacemakers at around $US5,000 each and have the New Zealand team visit Tonga to perform the procedure.
At the moment Dr Latu said Tonga didn't have the capacity to perform pacemaker surgery but there are plans to do so in the future.
