By Correspondent in Awka
With cases of cardiovascular getting increased in the country,Dr Jonathan Nwiloh, a consultant Cardiovascular Surgeon and Medical Director, Dr Joe Nwiloh Heart Centre,Awka, has called on governments and Philanthropists to partner with the centre for optimum medical heart services to the poorest of the people.
He made the call in an interview with Journalists in Awka, adding that that the call became necessary the centre was being under utilised.
According to him,only 100 surgeries on clients with cardiovascular disease had been carried out in the centre since inception.
Nwiloh, who also appealed wealthy to partner the centre,recalled that the Centre was inaugurated on August 2014 at Adazi-Nnukwu, Anaocha Local Government Area of Anambra, expressed concern that clients were yet to tap the services of medical experts in the Centre,fully, due to high cost of accesding medical heart services.
Nwiloh said that the Centre was built in joint partnership with Anambra State Government during the period of former Governor of Anambra, Mr Peter Obi and Catholic Diocese of Awka, under Archbishop Paulinus Ezeokafor.
“We have been in existence for over 5 years and that the Centre had not met its desired destination, we are still a work in progress, that is reason why we seek partnership with the wealthy to support medical heart services to the poor,” he said
Nwiloh said that people had very low understanding of the need to develop routine medical heart check up, adding that the centre had engaged in public enlightenment,to educate the public on the need to check their heart conditions as a responsibility to keep alive.
“ We discovered that people of this clime of the world prefer to buy plots of land, cars and other material things against support to the lowly to access regular heart medical checks and other health related matters .
“ Preventable deaths now become order of the day in this part of the world due to ignorance and financial constraints, lives could be saved if a timely attention is being given to health sector.
“ Nobody can be more interested in someone’s good health than the person, you have to take care of your life as a responsibility of importance first, then seek health support to be alive,” Nwiloh added.
Nwiloh,who also appealed to philanthropists in the country to invest in life saving projects, especially in area of combating heart related ailment, described cardiovascular disease as “a major cause of death in this part of the world.”
Nwiiloh urged the state government to make polices that might cover major health challenges of its people, irrespective of their social status, adding the rich could complement government efforts to ensure affordable healthcare.
He said that many people died of cardiovascular aliment, which is treatable in the centre, majorly because of finance tightness and lack of knowledge that the disease is treatable due to quality of human resources deployed to the heart Centre.
He said that the goal of the cebtre was to provide medical heart services to any class of individual that suffered from congenital heart decease.
He enumerated signs and symptoms of cardiovascular disease to include; shortness of breath, tiredness, weakness, chest pain and swollen on the ankles amongst others.
“Heart illness does not show signs earlier but it can be checked, if those sighs are regular”,the expert said.
