More than half of cardiac surgeries in Belarus are performed in the regions

May 19, Vitebsk / Sergey Kochetov - BELTA /. In Belarus, high-tech cardiac surgery care is actively moving to the regions. This was announced today by Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Director of the RSPC "Cardiology" Alexander Mrochek at the international scientific and practical conference "Arterial Hypertension and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases" in Vitebsk, a BELTA correspondent reports. In 2010, over 7.3 thousand cardiosurgical operations were performed in Belarus, of which almost 4.2 thousand (56.6%) were carried out in cardiosurgical departments of the regions, including the Minsk region. "Today, high-tech surgical activity is moving to the regions, so we can talk about the accessibility and mass nature of this type of medical care, which should have a positive impact on key demographic indicators, including life expectancy," Alexander Mrochek noted. In regional centers, operations such as coronary artery bypass grafting, interventions related to complex heart rhythm disorders, and heart surgeries, which were performed in Minsk 5-6 years ago, have become routine. Currently, a system of cardiological care for patients with circulatory diseases has been established and is stably functioning in Belarus, with primary health care playing an important role in organizing this service, where the initial understanding of patients' health status is formed. Specialized care is provided by 80 cardiology and 6 cardiosurgery departments of regional and city hospitals, 7 cardiology dispensaries in the regions, as well as the RSPC "Cardiology". In total, almost 5.2 thousand cardiological beds are deployed and functioning throughout the country, which is 5.4 beds per 10 thousand population (or 4.7% of the total bed capacity of medical institutions). Annually, more than 186 thousand cardiological patients undergo treatment in inpatient departments of the cardiological profile. The cardiology service employs 622 cardiologists, including two academicians and one corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 18 doctors and 57 candidates of medical sciences, and 9 professors. Over 75% of cardiologists have qualification categories. -0-