LAMBETA: CARDIAC SURGERY TO BEGIN NEXT YEAR

TREBINJE, SEPTEMBER 11 /SRNA/ – Basic cardiac surgery procedures are expected to be performed at the new hospital in Trebinje starting next year, under the mentorship of Professor Predrag Peško, stated Nedjeljko Lambeta, director of the healthcare facility.

Lambeta said that at a working meeting held yesterday, attended by cardiac surgeon Duško Terzić of the Second Surgical Clinic in Belgrade, it was agreed that preparations would be made next year for the launch of cardiac surgery at a basic level.

"Basically, these are the simplest procedures that can be performed here," Lambeta said.

He noted that Terzić toured the hospital and was impressed with the facilities, the operating theatre and everything else, and that he would initially bring a colleague from Belgrade.

"Most likely, at the beginning of next year, our medical staff would be sent to the Second Surgical Clinic in Belgrade for training lasting 15 to 20 days," Lambeta said.

According to him, certain equipment will also need to be procured, after which, if everything goes according to plan, cardiac surgery procedures would begin next year.

He explained that the most demanding cardiac surgery operations would not be performed initially, but rather procedures after which patients would generally be discharged after three days.

Speaking about the hospital's operations since moving into the new facility, Lambeta said that impressive results had been achieved over the past six months and that waiting lists had been significantly reduced.

"We have reduced the waiting lists to one month, and we will strive to shorten them further," Lambeta said.

He noted that patients now wait 10 days for their first examination by a cardiologist, whereas previously they could wait up to nine months, adding that the angiography suite is operating continuously and that more than 250 procedures have been performed so far.