A cardiosurgery center will be opened in Brest until the end of this year. A working group of the Ministry of Public Health visited Brest and assessed the facilities of the regional hospital, where the day-and-night clinic would be located. According to Yuri Ostrovsky, the working group head, the center is intended to perform 800 surgeries on the “open” heart and 800 coronary angioplasty surgeries per year with treatment course and intensive care. Up to year 2010 within the state program for the development of the cardiosurgery aid, similar centers will be opened in Mogilev, Vitebsk, and Grodno.
Yuri Ostrovsky emphasized the big role of this project. He noted, that for the time being, there are only two day-and-night surgery clinics in Belarus, where adult patients with cardiovascular pathologies can receive surgical treatment. They are located in Minsk and Gomel and their combined capacity does not exceed 2000 surgeries per year. As the result, the usual waiting time is around a year and a half, in emergency case — around six months. “Obviously, the regional centers, because of the lack of trained specialists, will not be able to provide the whole range of cardiosurgery services right from the start. However, the base that is going to be created will give a chance to invite specialists from Minsk in order to carry out complicated surgeries. The patients will not have to be transferred to Minsk and he or she will be able to go though the rehabilitation course here,” said Yuri Ostrovsky. He also explained, that local cardiologists are already offering some cardiosurgery services. For example, Brest Regional Hospital offers coronography, stenting, and blood vessel surgeries.
In compliance with the Regional Program for the cardiosurgery service development on base of the Brest Regional Hospital, during this year, it is intended to repurpose therapy department into cardiosurgery center. A 25-bed cardiosurgery department is going to be created here as well as a 6-bed intensive care department. In order to broaden the scope and quantity of surgical procedures on blood vessels and heart, the surgery base of the hospital will be reequipped with additional medical equipment.
Anna Bondarchuk
