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death recorded  |
| Frontal View of Fako Heart Centre, Buea-Cameroon |
Fako Heart Centre,last June 1, clocked one year since opening its doors to the public for consultation for people with heart and lung diseases.
The specialist health facility (worth hundreds of millions of FCFA), which is privately owned, has been described by many as the “Centre of Excellence for Stroke Prevention”
As part of celebrations marking the first anniversary, the management of the facility has offered a 45–day period of free consultations to the public, which started since May 15 and will end on June 30, 2020.
Situated near Buea Mountain Hotel, Fako Heart Centre is also an accredited university college of cardiology.
In its one year of operation, a total of 2,170 people were consulted, out of which 319 were in-patients. 1) Clinic-based consultations: 1,366 (808 females, 558 males) and 2) Outreach consultations: 804 (391 females, 413 males)
During same period no deaths were recorded, officials disclosed.
According to the World Health Organization, Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are the number one cause of death in the world.
The Centre has pointed out that “the alarming number of patients with cardiovascular conditions consulted so far attests to the fact that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a severe burden in Cameroon.”
The Centre’s first anniversary activities included free consultations, medical counseling and a talk by a nutritionist. Patients were also given a 15% discount on all investigations
It would be recalled that 110 people had been diagnosed with cardiac diseases the first day the Centre went operational on June 1, 2019.
Dr.Fred Perry Kemah,Cameroonian-born but London-based Consultant Cardiologist at Fako Heart Centre, said of the facility:
“Patients now enjoy local access to specialist cardiac medicine. This is a consultant cardiologist-driven service. The high quality of care delivered at Fako Heart Centre is based on several factors including the huge number of nursing staff trained to deliver not only medical care but also social care.
“Fako Heart Centre is unique in terms of its services in the sense that it offers tailored services in keeping with Western standards”
The Centre diagnoses and treats diseases such as: resistant hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, chest pain, heart attack, Palpitations, heart failure, pneumonia,HiV/heart diseases, asthma, chronic obstructive lung disease, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism and pericarditis.
Last year, Consultant Cardiologist Fred Perry Kemah, who is one of the vision bearers of the Centre, disclosed that while he was in London many Cameroonians used to call him, complaining of cardiovascular diseases(whose endpoint is heart failure), a situation which finally pushed him to establish Fako Heart Centre.
The Consultant Cardiologist added that the facility was put up for humanitarian reasons, since treating cardiovascular diseases abroad is quite expensive.
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| Mrs. kemah Irene,CEO of Fako Heart speaking to reporters |
“The same services I provide in London, France or elsewhere abroad are the same here.The only difference is that to see me in London you pay about 250 pounds; in France ,to see me you pay about 200 Euros ,but here in Buea people don’t pay to see me..” he observed.
Mrs.Kemah Naloua Irene, who is the CEO of Fako Heart Centre, told reporters on June 2 that the main mission of the centre is to fight against cardiovascular diseases including stroke.
She revealed that hypertension was common among the many people who came for consultation. “High blood pressure is a huge problem in Cameroon. And many people hardly go for check-up”,she said.” We have a lot of diabetic patients too.”
The CEO urged the public “to take their health more seriously and do regular check-ups to know exactly what is wrong with them. Don’t just sit and assume that you have malaria and you go get drugs from the pharmacy.”
The Fako Heart Centre provides services viz:Electrocardiogram (ECG), Echocardiogram/EchoDoppler Studies,Echotress test, DC Cardioversion,Stress test, Tilt table test,Holter 24hr BP Blood Pressure Monitor,Holter 24hr ECG monitor and Transesophageal echocardiogram.
According to officials: “At Fako Heart, patients are seen immediately, have their blood tests done immediately, have their investigations done immediately before going back home unlike other specialist health facilities where patients are seen, they go home and come back the next day for other investigations
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| Fako Heart Centre Nurses ready to receive to patients |
“If we identify non-cardiovascular patients, we refer them to the appropriate specialists on time. If we receive a patient in a critical and terminal condition, we advise the patient about their critical and terminal state and of course no need keeping them in a private institution where they will spend money with a very poor outcome, in that case we arrange for alternative measures.”
So far,Fako Heart Centre’s patients have come not only from Cameroon but from foreign countries such as Nigeria and Central Africa Republique.
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