Lack of surgeons is at heart of issue

KUALA LUMPUR: Although thousands of children remain on the waiting list for corrective heart surgery, eight operating theatres (OTs) for cardiac surgery at Serdang Hospital remain unused for want of cardiothoracic surgeons and staff. The OTs at the RM300 million Serdang Hospital, designed to be the reference centre for cardiology, cardiothoracic, urology and nephrology surgery in the country, have remained empty since they were opened in 2005. Health Minister Datuk Liow Tiong Lai said recently: "We don't have the experts. We don't have the manpower." He said it was for this reason that the government had offered to send urgent paediatric heart cases to the Nara-yana Hrudayalaya Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Bangalore, India, for corrective surgery. It had identified 200 children with complicated heart problems to be sent... [read full story]