In the wake of the rising number of heart attacks, the state public health department plans to set up 19 cath labs for treatment of heart disease in various district hospitals.A cath lab is likely to come up in Mumbai suburban area and the neighbouring Thane district as well as in Pune, Ahmednagar, Ratnagiri among others, over the next couple of years.
State health services director Dr Swapnil Lale confirmed: “We have decided to set up 19 cath labs over the next few years.”The state health department will first float a tender for cath labs. However, the immediate focus is to expand the ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction (STEMI) Project, flagged off in 12 districts in 2020, to detect and treat heart attacks within the golden hour.In the STEMI Project, the state has tied up with a private healthcare provider to train doctors and nurses in public health centres to conduct ECG for patients walking in with chest pain.
Over 5 lakh ECGs were done in the last three years, but the target is 7 lakh for 2023-24 as the project is being extended to all districts, said a senior health department official.“We also have to float a tender asking for new private partners for STEMI project expansion in other districts,’’ said the official. Patients detected with heart attack at public centres are sent to public or private hospitals for free treatment under the state insurance scheme. The state has over 20 super-specialty hospitals where angioplasty is offered, district hospitals are comparatively smaller and don’t offer such specialised services. Of 5 lakh ECGs done under the STEMI Project between 2021 and 2022, only 4,329 patients were finally diagnosed with heart attack and needed further intervention.