Health Ministry's Latest Guidelines On Treatment Of Heart Disease

KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (Bernama) -- The Health Ministry today announced two sets of latest Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPG) for the treatment of heart attack and heart failure to ensure that patients are attended to according to the latest standards.
Deputy Director-General of Health Datuk Dr Noorimi Morad said the CPG for treatment of heart failure and acute ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) or heart attack would be distributed to cardiologists and relevant specialists in the field as well as general practitioners and families.
There was a need to continue with current campaigns and seek ways to ensure that the target groups understood the CPG and applied them, she told a media conference after launching the CPG in conjunction with the 11th annual scientific conference by the National Heart Association of Malaysia (NHAM).
"What is necessary in Malaysia is to handle cardiovascular problems with the involvement of the doctor to ensure that the patients are accorded good treatment and the ailment is controlled to prevent complications," she said.
"The awareness among the people in the country about cardiovascular diseases is rising. However, despite the awareness, the practice of a healthy lifestyle is most lacking among those who know the risks of smoking and consumption of certain foods," she said.
Dr Norimi said the Health Education Unit took measures through advertisements and a media campaign to ensure that the health message was conveyed better, with more relevance and in an easily understandable manner.
"Besides, we are also striving to train -- apart from doctors -- a number of personnel of the associated groups such as nurses and medical assistants to get involved in preventive activities including counselling," she said.
She said that cardiovascular diseases, which had the fifth highest number of patients in hospital and the second highest number of deaths among diseases, could cause the cost of medicine to rise if left uncontrolled.
So far, the ministry had borne RM800 million in cost of medicines for all types of disease at the 134 government hospitals, she said.
"If the No. 1 killer such as cardiovascular disease is not controlled, the cost of medicines could exceed RM1 billion," she said.
Cardiovascular-related diseases were the cause of 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the deaths in government hospitals between 2000 and 2005 while heart failure was the cause of about 10 per cent of hospital admissions in the country, with 45 per cent of the patients getting readmitted to hospital at least once in 12 months.