PHSC link-up to keep Punjabis' hearts sound

CHANDIGARH: Known to put Punjabis in trouble, the heart however would beat stronger for people across the state with Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) starting a unique project for early detection of cases of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and immediate intervention in collaboration with PGI.
As a part of the project, an IHD unit has been set up at Civil Hospital, Kharar, and a similar unit is being set up at Civil Hospital, Dera Bassi.While the Kharar unit is already linked to PGI’s cardiology department, the Dera Bassi unit would also be linked shortly.
The ECG of any patient reporting to the IHD units with chest pain would be immediately transmitted to the cardiac care unit of PGI and his medical management can be started at Civil Hospital itself.
This would go a long way in cutting down on the high mortality rate among patients of cardiac disease.
Speaking to The Times of India, PHSC chairman C D Singh Kamboj said, “It is observed that smaller hospitals where heart patients are brought in first do not have the expertise to tackle such cases. They are usually referred to tertiary care centres but the time-gap between the time a patient gets a cardiac attack and when his treatment is started proves too dear. This results in high mortality. To address this we have embarked on this project.
The ECG of a patient with acute chest pain would be done and faxed to PGI. Cardiac specialist from there will interpret and guide the doctor for further action.�
The referred cases will bypass Emergency in PGI and be admitted straightaway in the Cardiac Care Unit. “This is the first time that such sort of a project is being undertaken in the country. It would be a round-the-clock service and there would be no financial bearing in the project on the part of PHSC except for telephone used for fax. PGI will not charge any admission fee from the patient. Once this project is successfully implemented, we will replicate it to our own tertiary level hospitals,� said Kamboj.
He said that PHSC has planned to create a network of its 158 secondary level hospitals and connect each hospital with either of the three tertiary care hospitals in Punjab. The tertiary hospitals are located at Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot.