More room for heart patients

NST: KUALA LUMPUR: The National Heart Institute (IJN) is expanding under a RM230 million programme to help it cater to a larger patient load.
This includes RM60 million for the latest equipment to provide better diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular and thoracic problems.
IJN chief executive officer Mohd Razif Mohd Yunus said the plans included a new five-storey building that would almost double the number of patients treated at present.
"The number of patients coming to IJN has been increasing and we are facing constraints in terms of capacity and facilities.
"Bed use is also at the maximum, especially in the Intensive Care Unit" he said.
Since its establishment in 1992, more than 1.3 million patients had sought treatment at IJN and more than 131,000 were in-patients.
Last year alone, IJN handled 149,000 patients of whom 12,000 were in-patients.
It performed 3,110 cardiothoracic surgeries including 2,100 open-heart , 827 closed-heart and 183 thoracic surgeries as well as more than 8,000 interventional cardiology procedures.
The institute also has a good record in children's cardiac medicine with 8,000 paediatric-cardiothoracic and 14,000 paediatric cardiology cases.
Razif said the workload had increased by nearly four-fold since inception when it was handling just 10,000 patients a year.
"When patients look to us for quick recovery, we have to ensure that we can provide better facilities and care," he added.
The completion of the new building next July would provide a total of 54 adult clinics, five paediatric clinics, 420 beds, 24 ICU beds, seven operating theatres, four catheterisation laboratories, a dialysis centre, a hybrid catheterisation laboratory operating theatre and 636 parking bays.
At present, it has eight general wards for cardiology and cardiothoracic cases with a selection of suites from single to six beds.
The wards are equipped with televisions, telephones, in-suite bathrooms and a nurse call system.
IJN has a staff strength of nearly 1,000 with 85 qualified cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, paediatric cardiologist and anaesthetists.
Razif said the hospital would be increasing the number of consultants from the country and abroad.
"We will also be recruiting nurses locally and from Indonesia, India, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.
"Allied health staff will also be increased," he said,
He added that IJN college would provide specialised training in cardiac care for nurses and allied healthcare staff.
Razif said IJN spent RM5 million annually on staff training, which included sending them on attachment locally and abroad.
He said IJN's team of consultant physicians was also noted for using the latest and most effective techniques in the treatment of heart patients, for interventional cardiology procedures, as well as heart surgery.
He said the array of treatments at the institute included angiogram and angioplasty procedures via radial artery, implantation of AICDs, minimally invasive surgeries and implantation of mechanical heart-assist devices.