‘Planned centre will offer high-quality cardiac care’

Bahrain Specialist Hospital and Apollo Hospitals welcomed industry leaders to the first “Health: Vision 2030 Forum” held under the patronage of Lieutenant General Doctor Shaikh Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Health at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel in Bahrain. The event focused on Cardiovascular Sciences and in line with the launch of their newly established BSH Apollo Heart Centre, a first-of-its-kind private facility in the Kingdom of Bahrain offering world class cardiac services and technologies.

The forum, which is being organised by FinMark Communications, brought together more than 200 people world-class cardiologists, cardiac surgeons, regulators, and public health professionals to discuss the latest developments in Cardiovascular Sciences given the urgency to combat cardiac disease, which remains among the biggest public health concerns and causes of death for individuals in the Kingdom and across the region. “We’re extremely pleased with the active and growing role that the private sector is playing the development of the health sector in Bahrain, making available world class services, technologies and treatments for our residents and citizens.

We also continue to encourage more partnership with the private sector as well as the benefits that partnership with specialised global leaders can bring to the Kingdom of Bahrain in terms of making available best in class medical care for all,” said Lt Gen Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa. Welcoming remarks by Dr Najah Al Zayyani, Vice-Chairman, Bahrain Specialist Hospital and a keynote address and presentation by Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director for Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited followed.

The programme then shifted to a high level panels discussion led by moderator Dr Mohammed Amin Al Awadi, Assistant Undersecretary for Hospitals - Ministry of Health, Kingdom of Bahrain with a leading group of panelists comprising Dr P C Rath, who is the Head of the Heart Institute at Apollo Health City, Hyderabad, Dr Vijay Dixit, Chief Cardio-Thoracic Surgeon at Apollo Hospitals, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad and Dr Amer Ardati is Director Cardiac Cath Lab at Jesse Brown VA Hospital, Director Heart Center and Co-Chair of the Emergency Cardiac Care Committee at University of Illinois Chicago.

Among the topics posed to the panel were questions looking at the advancements in healthcare and the growing influence of technology and their thoughts on what is going to be the diseases challenges over the next 10 years. Other topics touched upon were thoughts on the factors that were thought to leading to the rise in the number of cardiovascular deaths, worldwide and in what way could this be linked to the overall rise in NCD deaths, what Apollo Heart Institutes are doing to help combat this and how public and private providers can work together to tackle the problem of rising burden of NCDs jointly, among other related themes and trends shaping the industry today. Commenting on the success of the Forum, Dr Al Zayyani said, “This centre comes as a culminating effort of those who contributed to our hospital, starting with our respected government, the Supreme Council for Health, and the Board of Bahrain Specialist Hospital.

We are lucky in our Kingdom to have excellent cardiac care at the Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Heart Centre. Our Cardiac Centre will play a supportive role for offering the highest standard in cardiac care as well. Since we are aspiring to achieve very high level of services, we have chosen to associate with the Apollo Centre.” She thanked Dr Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Khalifa and everyone who contributed to the success of this forum and the achievement of the development of our Bahrain Specialist Cardiac Centre. Dr Sangita Reddy, Joint Managing Director for Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited, congratulated the promoters of Bahrain Specialist Hospital, and recognised their commitment to quality.

She added, that “Apollo’s network allows a natural back-up for services such as cardiac surgery and transplant for cases that require more advanced attention and care than what is locally available”. The forum concluded with presentations of mementos to Lieutenant-General Dr Shaikh Mohammed for his ongoing contributions to health and the launch of the BSH Apollo Heart Centre. Other healthcare leaders were also recognised including: Dr Ali Fakhroo, the first Bahraini practicing cardiologist who was also a former Minister of Health and Education; Dr Fouad Abdul Qader, the first  Bahraini Doctor to perform cardiac catheterisation, and Dr Habib Tureif, the first Bahraini cardiac surgeon. Both Dr Abdul Qader and Dr Tureif are contributing to the success of the Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa Cardiac Centre.