A section of the audience at the lecture
A
Consultant Physician and Cardiologist at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH),
Dr. Alfred Doku, has called for the establishment of additional catheterization
laboratories (cath labs) in the country to ensure the effective diagnosis and management
of cardiovascular diseases, especially heart attack.
According
to Dr. Doku, the three cath labs – an examination room in a hospital or clinic
with diagnostic imaging equipment used to visualize the arteries of the heart
and the chambers of the heart and treat any stenosis or abnormality found – are
inadequate for the effective diagnosis and treatment of
heart attack.
“We
want government to at least establish a cath lab in each region so we also have
‘one region, one cath lab’,” he stressed.
He
was speaking at the 4th Biennial Public Lecture on the theme: “Heart
Attack: An Emerging Disease We Cannot Ignore”.
It
was organized by the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana in Accra.
Making
a presentation on the clinical management of heart attack in the country, Dr.
Doku raised issues with the poor position of the Ghanaian society and health
system to care for people with heart attack which is the leading cause of death
worldwide.
He
said there was low public knowledge of cardiac arrest and resuscitation, no
defibrillators at public places, and electrocardiography machines at the lower
and middle health facilities level, adding “our emergency response team is also
not easily available.”
Dr.
Doku, therefore, stressed the need for intensified public education on the
symptoms and signs of a heart attack.
Dr.
Yacoba Atiase, Lecturer at the University of Ghana Medical School (UGMS),
speaking on the risk factors of heart attack, said 50 per cent of heart attack
deaths occurred in the first one hour of the attack.
She
said high cholesterol contributes to plague formation which increases the risk
of heart attacks.
Avoid
trans fat like biscuits, cookies doughnuts and limit unhealthy fats and saturated
fats in beef lamb. Rather, eat mono-saturated fats like olive oils, avocado
nuts and fish,” she said.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
