Cath lab is now working well at CWM Hospital – Dr. Waqainabete

Minister for Health, Dr. Ifereimi Waqainabete says the Catheter lab is now working well at the CWM Hospital.

While speaking in parliament, Dr. Waqainabete says the previous cath lab was installed in 2009 through a collaboration between General and Interventional Cardiologist based at the Gold Coast University Hospital in Australia, Dr Vijay Kapadia, the Rotary Club of Suva and a group in Australia.

When questioned by NFP MP, Lenora Qereqeretabua on the reasons that led to the malfunction and in-operational status of the cath lab equipment and angiogram at the CWM Hospital, Dr. Waqainabete says the previous cath lab served them well however the machine started having some issues and problems in 2020.

He says through their biomedical engineer, they were able to fix issues as they went along and unfortunately at a later stage they could not fix the machine and discussions were held to bring new machines.

The current angiogram and cath lab has also been arranged by Doctor Kapadia.

Dr. Waqainabete adds we now also have cath labs in Oceania Hospital and at Heart International in the West.

He says they have also begun discussions to outsource some of these interventional and diagnostic work that is currently being done in public hospitals.

A cardiac cath lab is a special hospital room where doctors perform minimally invasive tests and procedures to diagnose and treat cardiovascular disease.

The procedures performed in a cardiac cath lab almost always involve tiny, flexible tubes, called catheters, which can be used instead of surgery, to access the heart and blood vessels.

A cath lab has special imaging equipment used to see the arteries and check how well blood is flowing to and from the heart.

This information helps the care team to diagnose and treat blockages and other problems in the arteries.