Cath Lab at heart institute fully functional since May - ministry

- 15 surgeries performed monthly

The Ministry of Public Health yesterday said that a catherisation lab at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) has been functioning since May this year and 15 surgeries are being performed monthly.

A statement from the ministry followed a comment in the Auditor General’s Report for 2015 that up to April this year the $200m lab had not been fully operational. The Report pointed out that the expenditure had been made since 2012 and called for the lab to be fully operational.

In its statement, the ministry said that CHI has recorded an average of fifteen cardiac procedures per month since the establishment of the Catherisation Laboratory (Cath Lab) in May of this year.

“The Lab is not only the largest but the most advanced of any such laboratory in all of the Caribbean. CHI Lab has since been catering to procedures such as cardiac catherisation and the insertion of cardiac stents, pacemakers, defibrillators and heart valve through the groin”, the statement said. All the procedures were performed by Dr. Mahendra Carpen, Cardiologist attached to CHI which is located in the compound of the Georgetown Public Hospital..

The statement added that the Ministry and CHI are currently finalizing an agreement which will allow for emergency procedures to be done and a subvention will be made to CHI for the cost incurred.

The ministry said that the establishment of the CHI – a public/private partnership - has taken cardiac health care to another level ever since it opened its doors in 2006.