Want Establishment Of Cardiac CentreEXPERTS have raised fresh alarm over the rising incidence of heart diseases among Nigerian children, even as they called on government to urgently establish a well-equipped cardiothoracic surgical centre to cater for these patients at highly subsidised rates.President of the African Heart Network (AHN) and Board member of the World Heart Federation (WHF), Dr. Kingsley Akinroye, told The Guardian that children are growing up with a greater risk for heart diseases than at any time in human history. 'This is so, because they are growing up deprived of healthy choices about what they eat, how they move and live,' he said.A study conducted at Department of Paediatrics, Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) found that 81 per cent of children who were examined over a two-year period had abnormal heartbeats.According to the study published in the Nigerian Journal of Medicine, a total of 108 children, aged between two weeks and 18 years, were referred for echocardiographic examination in the two-year study period. Of these, 88 had an abnormal echocardiogram. There were 55 boys and 31 girls, giving a male and female ratio of 1.8:1.Congenital heart diseases accounted for 55 (62.5 per cent) of the studied subjects while acquired heart diseases were responsible for 33 (37.5 per cent). Isolated ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the commonest congenital heart disease. Rheumatic valvular heart diseases were the commonest acquired structural heart disease.The researchers concluded: 'With the establishment of tertiary healthcare institutions in Nigeria, availability of echocardiographic facilities, as well as increasing number of paediatric cardiologists, more of these cases are likely to be seen in the future. There is an urgent need for the government to establish a well-equipped cardiothoracic surgical centre to cater for these patients either free or at highly subsidised rates.'Meanwhile, the Kanu Heart Foundation (KHF) is blazing the trail with its Abuja Cardiac Centre project, which is expected to perform at least 250 open-heart surgeries annually when completed.According to the Coordinator, KHF, Mr. Onebuchi Abia, the Foundation spent about $4.2 million at average of $10, 000 per person for surgeries outside Nigeria. Onyebuchi said the way out is to build a well-equipped cardiac centre in Nigeria.He said the project objective was borne out of the yawning gap in the health sector in the treatment of heart related diseases more especially open heart surgeries and its attendant risk which over the years has made patients seek help in foreign countries like India, Israel, London, United States and Sudan as in the case of Kanu Heart Foundation.Onyebuchi explained: 'In these process huge sums of foreign exchange is expended amidst traveling, accommodation and sundry expenses. With the growing list of heart patients on our waiting list, the establishment and building of a Cardiac Specialist Hospital will no doubt help us in saving more lives and also saving cost.'Akinroye added: 'Cardiovascular diseases, both in adults and children constitute a major public health problem and structural heart diseases are an important group of disorders in children worldwide.
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