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Foreign surgeons to expedite heart surgeries

In a bid to reduce the increasing queue for heart surgery, the Health Ministry plans to bring down foreign surgeons.

The Ministry expects to bring down surgeons from India, Cuba and Philippines, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Welfare P. Dayaratne said yesterday.

According to Ministry reports, there are around 2,500 patients in the waiting list at the Colombo National Hospital (CNH) to undergo heart surgeries.

At present, heart surgeries are performed at the CNH, Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, Sri Jayawardhanapura and the Kandy General Hospital.

However, the number of heart surgeries that could be performed at the CNH has reached a peak. " We have reached the upper limit. Since last year, the number of annual heart surgeries at the CNH has doubled. It has now increased up to 1000 from 500 two years ago," says Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, Director CNH.

According to Dr. Weerasinghe, the CNH was doing around 300 such operations few years ago. "Now, we have a three-fold increase in the number of heart operations despite severe difficulties such as the shortage of trained staff."

The number of by-pass operations at the CNH has also increased over the years. "In 1990, only one by-pass was done. But now nearly 200 such operations are performed here," said Dr. Weerasinghe.

Heart surgery teams at the Karapitiya and Kandy Hospitals are facing difficulties due to the shortage of trained staff. The Sri Jayawardhanapura Hospital charges patients undergoing heart surgery.

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