53 / 66
CARDIOVASCULAR JOURNAL OF AFRICA • Volume 25, No 6, November/December 2014
AFRICA
303
Cardio News
New centre to revolutionise cardiac care in Africa
Ground-breaking new radial angiography service offered in the Western Cape will alleviate
cardiac care bottlenecks and set the tone for others in Africa to follow
A pioneering cardiac service in radial angiography, currently not
available elsewhere on the continent, will now be offered at a
new cardiac care centre at the Division of Cardiology, Tygerberg
Hospital in the Western Cape. Launched on 10 November
2014, the new state-of-the art facility, under the directive of
SUNHEART and the Division of Cardiology, Department of
Medicine, Stellenbosch University and Tygerberg Hospital, has
seen a multi-million rand investment by key private and public
partners, of which Medtronic is the principle partner. This will
enable the Division of Cardiology to offer advanced cardiac
care to more patients, especially from previously disadvantaged
communities in and around the Western Cape, and alleviate
current angiography bottlenecks in the region.
SUNHEART is a newly established, not-for-profit foundation
that strives for equal access to advanced cardiac care for all
patients. ‘In South Africa more than 50 000 patients annually
require advanced cardiac care, such as coronary angiography,
yet many don’t have access to these procedures and are therefore
denied potentially life-saving treatments, including coronary
stents. The first dedicated radial suite at the Division of
Cardiology will see a significant increase in the number of
patients we are able to treat’, says Prof Anton Doubell, head of
the Cardiology Division and director of SUNHEART.
Radial angiography allows patients to have coronary
angiography and interventions, including stent placement, by
accessing a small blood vessel in the arm rather than having to
puncture the large blood vessels in the groin. This improvement
on the standard approach has markedly increased the safety of
the procedure and the comfort of the patient. The new radial
suite situated in the angiography theatre complex will allow
patients to be admitted and discharged on the same day. ‘Not
only are we looking at “business-class coronary intervention”
in a state-of-the-art facility, but radial angiography and stenting
through our radial suite will significantly reduce the need for an
overnight hospital stay’, says Doubell.
‘As we shift to a value-based healthcare culture, the need for
innovative solutions that result in high-quality, cost-effective
healthcare is more important than ever before. In an effort
to improve and shape cardiac healthcare in South Africa
and sub-Saharan Africa, we have invested in SUNHEART
by providing the platform to train a significant number of
cardiologists on radial techniques in these regions. This entails
providing equipment, training workshops, hands-on support,
and our expertise in the African market and the cardiovascular
business to ensure the sustainability of the unit’, says the
managing director of Medtronic South Africa, Mike Howe-Ely,
an investment partner in the new facility.
The investment in SUNHEART has seen the building of state-
of-the art infrastructure, resulting in an expansion of service
delivery and improved workflow. This has meant redesigning
the out-patient service, introducing paperless reporting systems,
as well as developing echocardiography imaging and stress-test
services for an improved ‘one-stop’ patient offering.
Further support for the improvement in service delivery
by the unit comes in the form of an innovative outreach
programme where consultants render a decentralised cardiology
service at referral hospitals, which will improve the access of
patients to cardiac care in remote areas outside of Cape Town.
An important outcome of this programme is the training of
healthcare professionals at these hospitals.
‘By investing in top-quality personnel and through the
building of strategic partnerships, this unit has firmly established
itself as a cutting-edge institution at the forefront of cardiology
service delivery, training and research. SUNHEART is a success
story that demonstrates what can be achieved through the
building of public–private partnerships’, says Western Cape
minister of Health, Theuns Botha. ‘Facilitating the building
of partnerships between the public health sector and private
funders is an important ingredient in healthcare planning for the
future of South Africa.’
SUNHEART is actively investing in research and training
aimed at the eradication of diseases that are relevant to the South
African and African context. The first SUNHEART-sponsored
research project, Echo in Africa (EIA), was launched this year in
collaboration with the British Society of Echocardiography. EIA
involves the screening of large numbers of school children for
rheumatic heart disease.
Medtronic MD, Mike Howe-Ely; Medtronic Director,William
Stranix; SUNHEART Chairman, Dr Alfonso Pecoraro;
patient; Western Cape Minister of Health, Theuns Botha
and SUNHEART Director, Prof Anton Doubell.