Uganda acquires fourth modern heart machine

Uganda has acquired its fourth Catheterisation Laboratory, a modern machine that is fully equipped with imaging equipment to detect and manage various heart conditions.
The machine, commonly referred to as a Cath Lab, will be at Medipal International Hospital, a private facility. The facility according to hospital officials who spoke to Monitor at the weekend, will be operationalised in March.
The hospital officials also said the laboratory will lead to improved management of heart-related conditions and reduce the number of people travelling abroad for specialised treatment. 
   
Health experts at Uganda Heart Institute say there are two more Cath Labs at Nakasero Hospital and Kisubi Hospital, which are private health facilities.
Dr Sedat Gunes, the medical director at Medipal International Hospital, said cardiovascular diseases are very common in Africa because of diabetes, genetic structure, and hypertension. 

“This machine can help health workers check the neck arteries that go to the kidney side and other parts of the body, and it is a machine that will serve Ugandans very well,” Dr Gunes said.
He explained that the diagnostic imaging equipment is used to visualise the arteries and chambers of the heart and treat any stenosis or abnormality found there.
Uganda Heart Institute acquired the first Cath Lab in 2012 followed by Nakasero Hospital, Kisubi Hospital and now Medipal International Hospital.
Dr John Omagino, the executive director of Uganda Heart Institute, told Monitor yesterday that the institute has been using a Cath Lab for 10 years.

He said in a Cath Lab, one uses tubes and you can enter through a vein in the groin under direct vision of special x-rays and special dyes, so they place a dye and it can help you visualise the entire heart interior and it’s functioning.
“So if there is a problem detected, like an obstruction, irregular heartbeat, or a blockage in any of the vessels, you can widen them, intervene for people that we have heard of having heart attacks because of a blockage in the vessel, you can enlarge it so that doesn’t occur again,” Dr Omagino said.
He also said the machine helps to study the functionality of the heart to know if it can withstand treatment.

“In the Cath Lab, we can put in heart pacers, that is when the heart functioning rate is not normal, and the body has lost its capacity to control it, we can put in a pacemaker. It can be used for diagnosis, general study, intervention and treatment,” Dr Omagino said.
He added: “For patients who have chronic heart failure, who in normal situations require heart transplant, we can do intermediary treatment, where we take over the overall function of the heart by stimulating the various chambers ...it helps to bridge people as they wait for heart transplant or some people can even improve the functioning of the heart.