Change lifestyle to keep heart disease at bay

Dubai: A senior cardiologist has urged people to take better care of their health as the number of cardiac diseases is growing fast in the UAE and called for a simple change in lifestyle for a better quality of life.

Taking care of cardiac patients is expensive, he said, noting that it costs Dh5,000 to open a blocked artery and put in a metal stent, so that it does not close again.

"We are talking about government hospital prices," said Dr Fahd Omar Baslaib, head of the cardiology department at Rashid Hospital. "It would cost anything between Dh20,000 and Dh30,000 at a private hospital," he said of the cost of surgery.

"Change to a healthy lifestyle, like 30 minutes of exercise every day, proper diet and no smoking," he said.

New laboratory

He said heart diseases are the number one cause of death in the UAE. It has overtaken deaths in traffic accidents.

The cardiologist was speaking following the opening of a catheterisation laboratory at the hospital to cater to the growing number of cardiac cases the hospital receives.

The laboratory was inaugurated by Qadi Saeed Al Murooshid, director general of the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). Also present was Dr Shawqi Khouri, CEO of the hospital. "We have built a cath lab which is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to deal with cardiac cases, anticipating the need for such a facility," Al Murooshid said.

"The cath laboratory was earlier shared with the radiology department, but in recent times with the influx of cardiac cases, we decided to set up a completely dedicated cath suite", said Dr Khouri.

The lab has an unique machine which does an ultrasound inside the artery and also checks the pressure of the artery. This is a facility which not many places in the region have, doctors said. Last year 1,600 patients were admitted to the cardiology department. The unit is the third busiest department after the trauma centre and the general surgery department. Last year it carried out about 900 cardiac procedures.