A second cardiothoracic centre in the country is to be established within the next six months at the 37 Military Hospital Post-graduate centre to train doctors for the diagnosis and treatment of heart-related diseases. Lieutenant-Colonel Dr. Sunny Mante, Head of Surgery, and Cordinator of the 37 Military Hospital Post-graduate College, disclosed this at a press conference in Accra on Friday ahead of the African Heart Summit on Saturday. The four-day Heart Summit is a collaboration between the 37 Military Hospital and the German Heart Institute, Berlin. It is aimed at creating awareness of cardiovascular diseases in African society besides forging capacity building in cardiovascular medicine in Africa. About 50 resource persons across the world will forge partnership with Ghanaian doctors at the workshop to promote cardiovascular health service delivery. Throwing more light on the Summit, Professor Charles Yankah, Course Director at the German Heart Institute, said to improve upon the country’s health workforce, it must take cardiovascular diseases more seriously. The World Health Organisation and World Bank Statistics have indicated that by 2025, cardiovascular diseases would surpass HIV/AIDS infections to be the leading cause of death in Africa. He said between two and three per cent of Ghana’s estimated 23 million population has cardiovascular related diseases. Professor Yankah said the ideal situation was to have at least two physicians in the regional hospitals specialised in the diagnosis and treatment of heart related diseases to ease off the load at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Prof. Yankah said the German Heart Institute was working with the Ghanaian authorities to have more cardiovascular surgeons, cardiologists, nurses, and physicians trained in the country to improve the wellbeing of the workforce. He said the cardiovascular physicians would be trained to diagnose and treat people who suffer from heart-related diseases but do not necessarily require operation. The Course Director said the society should be more scientific to recognise and seek early treatment for heart-related diseases rather than to be superstitious about such conditions. Prof. Yankah advised people to check their diet and undertake regular medical checkups. Dr. Edward Asumanu, Deputy Coordinator, Postgraduate College of the 37 Military Hospital, said the heart summit sought to deepen the awareness of cardiovascular diseases among the medical community to carry the message to the wider society. He said cardiovascular diseases which were categorised under non communicable disease were gradually emerging as major killers but the awareness was very low. Dr. Asumanu said medical examination should be made mandatory in the country. Source: Ghanaian Times/Ghana