Jahangeer Ganaie
Anantnag, Feb 10: In a major relief to hundreds of patients, the Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag is all set to make Cath Lab functional at the hospital next month.
Officials said that cardiac catheterization lab, also known as a “cardiac cath lab,” is a specialized area in the hospital where doctors perform minimally invasive tests and advanced cardiac procedures to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.
They said that the cardiology unit is functional at GMC Anantnag but in the absence of the cath lab they had to refer patients with minor or major heart attack to Srinagar but such facilities will be available at GMC Anantnag now.
The first hour after a heart attack is known as “the golden hour.” Taking appropriate action within this first hour can save a patient’s life, they said, adding that most deaths due to cardiac arrest happen during this period.
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 47% of deaths occur due to sudden cardiac arrests before an individual reaches the hospital.
“If a patient who has suffered a heart attack reaches the hospital within the golden hour, cardiologists and trained emergency physicians are in a better position to run the appropriate tests and scans to confirm the occurrence of a heart attack and take the patient to the catheterization laboratory, where an interventional cardiac procedure called a primary angioplasty is performed to clear the cause of most heart attacks — plaque build-up that blocks the artery/arteries,” they said.
However, in the absence of the cath lab, patients from South Kashmir most of the time lose their golden time in reaching SKIMS or SMHS hospital.
Doctors said that the establishment of a cath lab at GMC Anantnag can help in saving lives of dozens of patients, who lose their golden period in travelling to Srinagar.
They added that this facility can help in easing load on Srinagar hospital as well.
Locals from South Kashmir have appealed to higher authorities to look into the matter and establish a cath lab at the hospital at an earliest so that more and more lives can be saved.
They said that this hospital has importance as besides getting patients from South Kashmir district, patients from Banihal, Ramban and other parts of Jammu division are coming for treatment.
Meanwhile, an official at GMC Anantnag said that authorities are going to inaugurate the (Treadmill Test) TMT machine tomorrow while the cath lab will be inaugurated by the first week of March.
He said that TMT is a medical procedure that assesses how well your heart works during physical activity. It’s also known as an Exercise Stress Test.
A doctor may recommend a TMT if a person has symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD) or an irregular heart rhythm and it can help diagnose CAD and other heart conditions. It can help identify abnormalities in blood flow, rhythm, and blood pressure, he said.
“You walk or jog on a treadmill while your heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing rate are monitored,” he said, adding that the intensity of the exercise gradually increases. “Your electrocardiogram (ECG) is also recorded.”
A TMT test can help determine if you have CAD or other heart conditions and the results can help calculate your exercise tolerance in terms of metabolic equivalents (METS), he added.
