DUBAI, UAE, September 24, 2009
/24-7PressRelease/ -- A senior German cardiologist based in Dubai highlighted gaps in UAE heart attack-related medical services in advance of World Heart Day 2009 on September 27.
Dr Klaus T Kallmayer, chairman of German Heart Centre Bremen in Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC), claimed the treatment of acute and life-threatening conditions such as heart attack is insufficient in the Emirates.
Dr Kallmayer says: "Most things need to be improved here, from the triage to the logistics to the final treatment. If you have a heart attack in this country, even in Dubai, then your chances of survival will be far below the average offered in more developed counties."
And Kallmayer is well placed to make these judgements, as he contributed to the establishment of one of the first credible acute heart attack programs in Germany, in the federal state of Bremen.
The positive for potential heart attack victims is that the knowledge is here in the UAE, but remains untapped. Heart disease and heart attack remains the number one killer through natural death worldwide. This is certainly the case in the UAE, with prevalent risk factors like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure and, with continued sedentary lifestyles, the death toll is set to rise dramatically in the future, predicts Kallmayer.
He says: "We opened German Heart Centre Bremen in DHCC in 2006, and working here for three years has confirmed we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg. Laudable efforts are made every year during World Heart Day to educate people about risk factors. However, education will never eradicate the disease and any patients suffering from a heart attack now or in the near future will not be treated satisfactorily."
The UAE boasts some of the world's most advanced hotels, the world's highest skyscraper, a new Formula One race track and a futuristic metro system, while planned carbon-free cities will give the region a leading edge in applied technology. However, treatment for the most prominent cause of sudden death has not been updated and, according to Kallmayer, has fallen behind expected international standards of care. Dr Kallmayer claims many patients in the UAE are not being treated properly during their 'Golden Hour' as a result of this shortfall, dying unnecessary deaths, which do not spare the wealthy and powerful.
"The cause of a heart attack is the closure of a coronary artery supplying the heart muscle itself with blood. If the heart muscle is cut off from oxygen supply for too long, the cells first cease functioning and then perish. Therefore, it is paramount to reopen the closed arteries before irreversible damage is done to the heart. If this can be achieved within the first 60 minutes, permanent damage can be avoided in almost all cases - a period dubbed 'The Golden Hour'. Even beyond this crucial timeframe, intervention within three hours will salvage most of the heart at risk," says Dr Kallmayer.
Bremen Heart Centre, the official heart centre of the German state of Bremen, a subsidiary of which is the German Heart Centre in Dubai Healthcare City, was one of the first institutions to establish a dedicated acute heart attack program in Germany in 2005. This required a sufficient number of interventional cardiologists, the introduction of a true 24/7 service and the creation of a close network between the centre, external hospitals and emergency physicians. It also relies upon the ambulance services providing a clear pathway for cardiovascular emergencies.
"As the tools were already available, we just had to devise the logistics," explains Kallmayer, who in addition to his position in Dubai is still managing partner of the German operation. "German Heart Centre Bremen has come to Dubai to bring the full range if its services and this includes the acute chest pain centre. But the latter has proven more difficult than expected.
"There is no lack of technical equipment or specialists in Dubai. On the contrary, hospitals have shot up throughout the city with many offering interventional cardiology. This leads to a fragmented market, where the individual hospital does not get the patient numbers required to maintaining the desired standards of care. A handful of cases are not enough, as success rates increase and complication rates are proven to fall when case loads and operator and institutional experience rises through patient numbers.
"German Heart Centre Bremen has the experienced operators needed for acute interventions, as they are all constantly exposed to the high case load in their Bremen mother institution. However, efforts to establish a program similar to the one in Germany consistently fail to interest hospitals in the UAE."
However, Dr Kallmayer remains confident the challenges can be managed. "The parts needed to create this infrastructure are all here. As in my home city of Bremen, it just needs determination, good planning and some encouragement from the authorities to make it a success. If our assistance is requested, we shall be happy to help. We have done this before and need not reinvent the wheel," he said.
http://www.german-heart-centre.com
(Ends.) Picture attached of Dr Klaus Kallmayer at German Heart Centre.
For more media information please contact Ian Hainey on +971 50 466 1368 or ianhainey@hotmail.com
Notes to Editors:
• Over the past decade, multiple studies have shown that acute intervention with coronary angiography immediately followed by balloon dilatation and stent implantation into the affected artery is far more effective in assessing the nature of the problem and reopening occluded arteries. Time is of the essence: Ideally the interval between the first medical contact and the intervention should not exceed 90 minutes. Studies in Europe, had, however proven that this goal was not only achievable in metropolitan areas but also in rural regions so that, for instance, in Denmark even a distance of 150 km to the nearest interventional site was no obstacle. Subsequently, acute coronary interventions in the cardiac catheterization laboratory swiftly became standard of care for acute heart attacks reporting within the required time frame of three hours or in patients with ongoing chest pain.
• According to the guidelines of the American College of Cardiology it is not desirable that PCI services are diffused widely to be available in most healthcare institutions but that the service should be regionalized and concentrated in specialized high-volume centers. Everything else is a poor use of resources that will likely lead to suboptimal results. Exceptions can be made where vast distances are a problem - which is hardly the case in the metropolitan areas of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
• German Heart Centre, Germany's leading cardiovascular centre, opened in Dubai Healthcare City in May 2006, bringing premium medical care services and the proficiency and competence of its Harvard-trained German cardiologists and other skilled staff. Dr Klaus T. Kallmayer MD MA, who has also earned a PhD in medical ethics, is the founding and managing partner of Herzzentrum Bremen, one of Germany's biggest cardiovascular centres, managing partner of the consulting and managing group Bremen Heart Centre chairman of German Heart Centre Bremen in Dubai Healthcare City.
• German Heart Centre performs diagnostic services and provides optimal patient care at its state-of-the-art clinic. Staff is periodically rotated between the clinics in Dubai and Bremen, Germany, to facilitate exchange of best practices.
• "I feel cultural peculiarities also play a role here in the UAE. In stark contrast to Europe or the US, where physicians enjoy universal professional trust, most UAE residents sadly have little basic confidence in the medical services. Be it justified or not, this often results in seeking second or even multiple opinions and often serious delays in treatment. I have experienced on several occasions, cases of acute heart attacks, where patients were advised to have the coronary intervention done immediately but refused the life-saving intervention in favour of getting a good rest at home first, or demanding to be transported abroad, or holding a multi-headed family meeting first. I have seen this result in death."
Ian Hainey PR
Award Winner Public Relations based in Dubai
00971504661368
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