New facility caters to cardiac case glut

BY PMA RASHEED

The Gulf Today, 16 Nov 2009

Rashid Hospital in Dubai opened a completely dedicated catheterisation suite at its premises on Sunday, as the influx of cardiac cases has shown higher rates in recent times.

The hospital has been witnessing a high volume of cardiac cases during the last few years. Last year the admissions to the cardiology department was 1,600 patients; this figure amounts to 11 per cent of the total admissions in Rashid Hospital, according to health officials.

Qadhi Saeed Al Murooshid, Director General of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said, "In 2008, the department conducted between 850 and 900 cardiac procedures."

"So, the health authorities think that the cath suite will facilitate to cater to the growing number of cardiac cases the hospital receives."

"The cath laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies and facilities to meet with the cardiac cases of the emirate's present and future population," he added.

Dedicated suite

Dr Shawqi Khoory, CEO of Rashid Hospital, said, "Previously, the cath laboratory at the hospital was shared with the radiology department. But in recent times with the influx of cardiac cases, we decided to set up a completely dedicated cath suite."

"The cath suite is equipped with a procedure room, eight beds for patients, a control room for all the equipments as well as monitors, seminar room and an on-call room for doctors," he explained.

According to Dr Fahad Omar Baslaib, Head of Cardiology Department at the Rashid Hospital, the cath suite has the latest technology required for coronary angiography.

The procedures that will be conducted in the cath suite include primary angioplasty, coronary angioplasty with stent implantation, balloon valvuloplasty and permanent peacemaker implantation," he said.

"It is also equipped with other devices such as the intravascular ultrasound machine which does an ultrasound inside the artery and also checks the pressure of the artery, a unique facility in the region," he added.

He noted that patients can stay back in the same cath suite for 24 hours. They also have access to round-the-clock on-call doctor service.

The unit is the third busiest department after the trauma centre and the general surgery department.