The Advance of Open Heart Surgery in Regional Hospitals of Ministry of Public Health

Abstract

During the last 10 years, 2001 - 2010, the development of open heart surgery in regional hospitals of Ministry of Public Health progressed substantially. From the statistic of cardiac surgery in Thailand collected by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons of Thailand, the number of cases on open heart surgery performed in all regional hospitals increased from 149 cases in 2001 to 1,816 cases in 2010. The proportion of the total cases in the regional hospitals compared with the total cases of the country increased from 2.9 percent in 2001 to 15.9 percent in 2010. And the proportion of total cases in regional hospitals compared with the total cases of the provincial area increased from 14.2 percent in 2001 to 37.4 percent in 2010. These data showed that the role of regional hospitals for open heart surgery service in the country has progressively increased. However, at present the number of cardiac patients waiting for surgery remained high. The Ministry of Public Health should launch the policy for supporting any remaining regional hospitals with the potential to set up open heart unit.