Principal secretary (health, medical and family welfare) M.T. Krishna Babu on Sunday said the State government was making arrangements to provide emergency heart care within the golden hour to those suffering from heart diseases in rural areas.
In a release, Mr. Krishna Babu said that due to a lack of emergency medical care for heart patients, many were dying in rural areas. There were about 38 lakh people suffering from heart diseases in the State and 32% of the deaths in the State were due to heart diseases, he added.
To reduce the number of deaths and bridge the gap between patients and emergency heart-care facilities, the Health Department was going to implement the ST-Elevation Myocardial Infraction (STEMI) project in collaboration with STEMI India, an organisation with expertise in STEMI management.
He said staff were being trained for a pilot, which would be implemented for about three months. If successful, the services would be made available across the State in a hub-and-spoke model in collaboration with Aarogyasri network hospitals, he added.
He said the government would spend over ₹120 crore for a pilot project to establish cath labs in Kurnool and Kakinada government hospitals.
At area hospitals and district hospitals, which would be spoke centres, preliminary diagnostic equipment such as ECG machines; trained doctors and nurses; and paramedical staff would be placed. The staff and spoke centres would consult hub centres for medical advice and further action to be taken, he said.
