The Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) is now one step closer to providing open-heart surgery with the return of Dr. Pradeep Ramkoomar who recently completed a fellowship training in Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases, Madras Medical Mission in India. As a result of this training that started in 2020 and lasted for three years, Dr. Ramkoomar is now well positioned to pioneer the establishment of a department of Adult Cardiac Surgery at GPHC.
This department will facilitate the routine provision of coronary artery bypass surgeries and heart valve replacements and repairs among other open-heart procedures for persons with coronary artery and valvular heart diseases. Additionally, the department will augment the GPHC’s current clinical and interventional arms of the cardiovascular services with the provision of full-time surgical support.
Having successfully completed his fellowship, Dr. Ramkoomar is now the only adult open-heart surgeon in Guyana. Guyana Standard understands that his training included beating heart surgery and conventional on-pump bypass with exposure to robotics and minimally invasive cardiac surgery at the revered super specialty cardiovascular hospital in Chennai.
At present, GPHC said at least four patients are identified weekly who require open-heart surgeries, in addition to a backlog of patients awaiting these procedures who may have otherwise had to travel out of the country and pay to access these life-saving interventions.
With the establishment of the department of Adult Cardiac Surgery, the GPHC will have the capacity to provide elective and emergency coverage for services such as minimally invasive valve surgeries and transcatheter aortic and mitral valve replacements.
With continued support from GPHC’s administration, Dr. Pradeep Ramkoomar continues to advocate for the establishment of a sustainable and reliable model of adult cardiovascular care which mimics the more successful centres worldwide which operate independently, with clinical, interventional, and surgical arms under their purview.
