Cardiac clinics planned for all 27 provinces

JAKARTA (JP): Cardiac prevention and rehabilitation clinics will be made available in Indonesia's 27 provinces to treat heart disease, a cardiologist at the National Cardiac Center at Harapan Kita Hospital said Saturday.

Dede Kusmana said that once the plan materialized, the National Cardiac Center in Jakarta would serve as a referral center and handle only very serious cardiac cases.

Dede declined to say when the project would start.

"Due to our country's large population of 200 million people and sprawling archipelago, this is the most viable measure to face the challenges of cardiac conditions. It is too costly to establish more hospitals and pharmaceutical production facilities, which ultimately the patient must bear," he said.

Heart disease is currently the leading cause of death among Indonesians, Dede said quoting the 1992 Household Health Survey. It is followed by tuberculosis, respiratory system infections and diarrhea.

Cardiac prevention and rehabilitation will be the main focus of treating heart disease at two upcoming cardiology conferences to be held here next week.

The Asian Pacific congress will take place here from July 5 through July 6, followed by the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) congress, held July 6 to July 10, Dede said.

Dede said the ASEAN congress, to be attended by 2,000 participants, will address approaches to cardiovascular challenges in the region, while the Fifth Asian Pacific congress, including 500 participants, will address cardiac rehabilitation.

Leading multinational pharmaceutical companies will also send delegates to both congresses.

ASEAN member countries include Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will be included in the fold by July.

Participants

Countries participating at the Asia Pacific congress will include Australia, Canada, China, France, Hong Kong, India, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan.

As in each ASEAN congress, the Sukaman Lecture will feature Dato Richard Ng of Singapore. The lecture was named after the late Dr. Sukaman who pioneered cardiology developments in Indonesia and ASEAN.

A scientific committee member of the event, Harmani Kalim, said an award of US$1000 would be given to a participant with the best paper on aspects concerning cardiology. (01)