The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Cardiothoracic services defunct due to no expertise

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Tuesday, Jan 08, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Cardiothoracic services defunct due to no expertise

HYDERABAD: It’s like sending the army to wage a war sans weapons.

This is what it feels like when you are a heart surgeon and trying your best to make a difference in a Government set-up.

Patients are oblivious and authorities are even more indifferent to the struggle of cardiothoracic wings at Osmania and Gandhi General Hospitals.

It’s a known fact that Gandhi and OGH are the only facilities offering ‘active’ cardiothoracic services while similar departments at Warangal, Kakinada, Visakhapatnam and Kurnool are defunct due to no expertise. Ironically, except for OGH and Gandhi, all the other district hospitals have hi-tech equipment but no manpower to take up surgeries.

Lack of equipment

Modern equipment like heart-lung machines is lying idle in district hospitals and the so-called ‘tertiary’ hospitals in State capital are struggling with lack of equipment. As a result, the cardiology wings at OGH and Gandhi are unable to perform more heart surgeries, which, ideally, they could have taken up.

Facts tell all. Out of all the Government hospitals in the State, there is only one perfusionist, a vital member of heart surgery team.

Also known as ‘pump technicians’, perfusionists operate the heart lung machine while the heart surgeons are at work.

The only perfusionist still working at OGH is on the verge of retirement.

The Cardiothoracic team of Gandhi hospital has hired a retired pump-technician to handle the only heart-lung machine in the hospital. Ironically, Visakhapatnam and Warangal Government hospitals have two-such machines, which are lying idle. Similarly,

Kurnool also has machine but no expertise to take up heart surgeries.

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