Professor Volkmar Falk
Newsweek has rated the German Heart Centre Berlin (Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin) among the top ten heart centers of the world.
The German Heart Centre Berlin (Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin) (currently, named German Heart Centre Charité Berlin ) led by Professor Volkmar Falk, Medical Director of German Heart Center Charité Berlin & Director of Cardiothoracic Surgery since 2014, is the only European institution among the global top ten.
The center is well known for its activities along with other European counterparts to promote capacity-building programs in cardiovascular surgery in underserved regions such as Africa.
“We appreciate the efforts of several American charity heart teams of NGOs which visit underserved regions including Africa annually to perform life-saving congenital/pediatric heart surgeries for the past 50 years.
We congratulate Professor Volkmar Falk and the leadership of German Heart Center Charité Berlin for achieving the global top ten rating of the center of excellence in cardiac surgery,” said Professor Charles Yankah, President of diasporan PASCaTS/Global Heart Care Germany.
He continued, “ We appreciate the commitments, clinical and scientific performances of the teams of Berlin’s heart more center, and the passion for sharing their know-how with the African cardiac center per video conferences and on-site towards capacity building for enhancing cardiovascular healthcare delivery,” he said.
Professor Uanka said during the COVID-19 pandemic 2020/21 the heart center streamed in collaboration with Global Heart Forum twenty-three webinars (an average of one webinar every month) to share clinical experiences with Africa and around the world.
Professor Yankah, who undertakes cardiovascular training programs in Africa, said “the German Heart Center Charité Berlin has a vision and commitments that propel sustainability and resilience in cardiovascular healthcare in Africa and other underserved regions to face a future crisis”.
Upcoming Courses
Professors Falk and Yankah are hosting African heart surgeons and cardiologists to attend courses in cardiac surgery (AfroValve Camp Berlin) and transesophageal echocardiography (AfroEcho Berlin) at the German Heart Center Charité Berlin in October and November 2021.
The courses will be sponsored by Edwards Lifesciences Foundation and PASCaTS/ Global Heart Care.
The objectives of the courses are to share clinical experiences with African colleagues that will enable them to learn how to perform complex cardiac diagnoses and surgeries to treat complex congenital and rheumatic heart diseases.
In this context, Professor Yankah envisions and wishes a mega low budget African Heart Centre in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) that does not have stakeholders to pay, led by a cardiovascular professional, driven by the public sector and politics to create a power of a non-profit organization like the German Heart Center, Charit é Berlin.
It should be conceived to network regional heart centers of excellence of SSA to improve access to comprehensive diagnostics ad surgery for the underserved communities.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri