250 to 300 cardiac operations scheduled at SKMC in 2006

The medical team of the newly operational cardiac sciences programme of SKMC told mediapersons that they see between 400 and 600 cases per year coming to the centre. The patients considered for the SKMC Cardiac Programme include both nationals and expatriates.

Already having experienced surgeons and nurses, the team is set to expand further and recruit high quality nursing personnel and physicians in the next nine months or so.

Although not given their five-year-plan by the government, SKMC's cardiac department hopes to expand as demand grows, especially in the areas of emergency services and imaging, the hospital's management said.

In question-answer session yesterday the medical team, along with SKMC CEO Clyde H. Eder gave a clear picture of the facilities and expertise available through the new programme which was inaugurated earlier this month by Dr Ahmed Mubarak Al Mazrouei, Director-General, General Authority for Health Services (GAHS) for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

With the opening of the new cardiac division, SKMC joins Zayed Military Hospital and Mafraq Hospital as the government hospitals offering cardiac care to the residents of the emirate.

SKMC's Department of Cardiac Sciences provides cardiac services and specialties including non-invasive cardiology, cardiac catheterisation, and cardiac surgery. The five divisions of the department include Adult Cardiac Surgery, Adult and Paediatric Cardiology, Cardiac Anesthesiology, and Paediatric Cardiac Surgery that is scheduled to be available by October this year.

The two operating rooms and the catheterisation lab that are set aside for the programme are equipped with the finest German and American medical equipment, including the sophisticated heart lung machines and ventricular cyst devices. Facilities like coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) utilising both cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or without CPB coronary bypasses are available in SKMC. The new catheterisation lab will provide round-the-clock Interventional Cardiology Services including pacemaker implantation, defibrillator checks, and primary angioplasty. SKMC is the only centre in the region offering ventricular cyst device technology for the benefit of its cardiac patients. This enables the cardiac team to deal with patients with reduced heart functioning due to various ailments.

The cardiac team comprises Dr Norbert Augustin, who is heading SKMC Department of Cardiac Sciences and the SKMC Division of Adult Cardiac Surgery; Dr Gregory Eising, Dr Wael Bedda, Dr HansJarg Massinger, Dr Friederike Von Canal and Eberhard Vestweber, perfusionist. They were formerly part of the German Heart Centre in Munich with the exception of Eberhard Vestweber, who is a former chief perfusionist at Erlangen Heart Center in Germany.

The team felt that gaining confidence of the people is a matter of earning it. It was felt that GAHS would increasingly refer patients to the SKMC for cardiac operations as confidence in the team at SKMC grows.

When asked if its better to open a unified centre to look after the cardiac patients than have separate cardiac departments in the various hospitals, the response was that the present system was in line with the government decision. Whatever be the decision of the government, the aim of the cardiac department of SKMC is to become a centre of excellence in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

A guided tour of the facilities available to the cardiac department, including the operation theatres and the catheter labs, simply added to the picture of experience, professionalism and competence of the cardiac department of the SKMC.