Waiting list for heart surgeries pruned
Nadira GUNATILLEKE
Doctors attached to the Cardiothoracic Unit of the Colombo National
Hospital have cut down its three year long waiting list for heart
surgeries.
A patient who needs a heart surgery has to wait only five months to
get his/her open heart surgery done at the Colombo National Hospital, a
Health Ministry source said.
According to the spokesman, open heart surgeries commenced at the
Colombo National Hospital in 1995 and there was a three year waiting
list since then.
A patient who required an open heart surgery had to wait three years
in the past. This waiting period has been cut down to five months.
Between 15 and 25 heart patients visit the Colombo National Hospital
clinics weekly for emergency surgeries.
Around 1,000 open heart surgeries are performed at the Colombo
National Hospital annually by four doctors.
Facilities for these surgeries are available only at the Colombo
National Hospital.
Doctors attached to the unit requested Health Deputy Minister Lalith
Dissanayake to commence heart surgeries at the Kurunegala and Karapitiya
Teaching hospital using resources and upgrading the units with
resources.
They also pointed out that the drugs and medical equipment they
requested for 2011 has not been supplied to them so far eventhough they
had made the request in 2009, he said.
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