Deputy Premier: Sarawak Heart Centre has treated nearly 250,000 patients over past 20 years

Dr Sim (sixth right) with Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni (fourth left) taking a group photo with staff from SHC during the 20th Anniversary of Pusat Jantung Sarawak celebrations held recently. Photo credit: Dr Sim Kui Hian Facebook page

KUCHING, Jan 9: The Sarawak Heart Centre (SHC) cardiology department has treated 248,093 patients over the last 20 years, said Deputy Premier Dato Dr Sim Kui Hian.

In his Facebook post yesterday (Jan 8), he said the department has also treated 5,172 patients with heart failure since 2016, with 171,088 patients having undergone an echocardiogram or ‘echo’ treatments.

According to him, 5,907 patients have laid under SHC’s highly innovative Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology, making Sarawak the first in South East Asia to be equipped with it in 2003.

He said that since 2005, 8,371 patients had been scanned with the Cardiac CT machine (cardiac computed tomography), the first such treatment conducted in a public hospital in Asia.

Dr Sim, who is also Minister for Public Health, Housing and Local Government, added about RM200 million had been spent to carry out interventional procedures for 20,158 patients, and 33,842 have been diagnosed.

As for the Department of Cardiac Surgery, he said 2,670 patients had undergone coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) procedures, followed by 2,170 for non-CABG cardiac surgery, and 2,737 have been treated with Thoracic Surgery. — DayakDaily