CAIRO - A three-year project within the international 'Stent for Life' initiative, of which Egypt is a member country, has been launched by the Egyptian Society for Cardiology, which aims to treat patients suffering from clots and heart attack within the first three hours of symptoms beginning. A group of Egyptian cardiologists are training 1990 doctors nationwide to rapidly get patient suffering from clotting symptoms into the catheter room, says Dr Mohamed Sobhi, the head of the Society. He noted that the project aims at raising the awareness of people with symptoms of cardiac diseases, through campaigns in the media in addition to ambulances services being provided through co-operation with the Ministry of Health. He told the Society's 38th conference held last week in Sharm el Sheikh that a number of paramedics are being trained on how to deal with patients with heart attacks. Additionally, a map will be provided of the locations of hospitals appropriately medically equipped in different governorates to receive by ambulance patients suffering heart attacks. According to Dr Sobhi, the Ministry of Health is studying the possibility of meeting the costs of implementation of the project through the health insurance system, with patients not covered by this system treated at State expense. Dr Hani Ragi, a consultant of cardiology at the National Heart Institute, stressed that 60 per cent of Egyptian patients suffering clots are not receiving treatment, based on use of catheter and drugs to dissolve the clot or installation of the more effective stent. Dr Medhat Hassanin, a professor of Cardiology, Tanta University, stressed the importance of prompt intervention and the patient on whom a stent was used to remove a clot being committed to the requisite treatment to control the heart disease and avoid the recurrence of symptoms.
