Al Qasimi Hospital in Sharjah set to double cardio facilities

Al Qasimi Hospital announced on Wednesday that plans are under way to expand the Cardiothoracic Surgery Centre in the hospital to cope with more patients from Sharjah and the other northern emirates. The hospital has been working to enhance its profile as a centre of excellence in specialised heart operations and currently does three open heart surgeries per week. The expansion will allow the hospital to double its capacity. Dr Arif Al Nooryani, Executive Director and Consultant Cardiologist at the hospital, said the facility performs a number of complicated procedures including percutaneous aortic valve replacement via carotid approach procedure, which was successfully performed for the first time in the whole MENA region at the hospital. The procedure which is only carried out in a few medical institutions across the world, was recently performed on a blind patient in his nineties, taking only 45 minutes as a result of the advanced technology and expertise at the hospital, said Dr Al Nooryani. He said the expansion plans include increasing the number of medical teams so that they can perform surgeries on a daily basis, whether these are pre-set procedures or emergencies. Currently, the hospital receives more than 50 patients a week for different types of cardiothoracic care, including different types of catheterisation procedures. Considered the largest governmental hospital in Sharjah, the involvement with new medical opportunities has led to the curing of some of the most complicated health conditions, according to a recent report released by the hospital. Operated by a medical team of UAE citizens and residents, the hospital is one of the few in the country which provides ‘level three medical services' which is first-rate health care. Using a range of advanced medical equipment, the hospital does 12 open heart surgeries per month across the northern emirates. The hospital's Neurosurgery Department has also carried out several complicated procedures including one on a female patient who suffered from a ruptured brain aneurysm and another where a spinal tumour was removed from a 56-year-old patient who weighed 103kg. The cardiology department also performed a rare cardiac procedure on a 21-year-old patient with a cardiac congenital defect called patent ductus arteriosus. Future plans Dr Abdul Wahid Al Wahidi, Consultant General Surgeon, Head of the General Surgery Department and Deputy Technical Director, said the hospital is planning to open a centre for the treatment of obesity. He added that the Surgical Department is the first to establish a division for obesity surgeries among all the hospitals listed under the Ministry of Health. Nine hundred surgeries were carried out in the past three years, and the waiting list extends to as long as four months, he added. Consultant Plastic Surgeon Dr Safwat Al Hussaini said that the Plastic Surgery Department established a unit specialising in chronic wounds almost a year and a half ago. The unit, which is using the latest equipment including laser devices that ease pain and bleeding during surgeries, is considered the first specialised unit in chronic wounds in all hospitals operating under the ministry. Dr Khalid Khalfan Sabt Al Ali, Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, pointed out that that the hospital has performed endoscopic surgeries on infants not older than a few weeks old, along with endoscopic surgeries that were performed for the first time in the Middle East. He also added that the hospital is the only one functioning under the Ministry of Health which provides paediatric surgery. Saying that the department of paediatric surgery operates under only two consultant doctors and supports all public hospitals, Dr Al Ali raised his concern stating the need for more doctors. Source: Gulf News