Anniversary:

Fako Heart Centre Buea Fêtes One, Records Zero Mortality

Fako Heart Centre, Buea, has on 1 June 2020, clocked one year. The Centre is celebrating its first anniversary with “zero mortality”.

Fako Heart Centre is a purpose-built Specialist Cardiac Hospital which specializes in Heart and Lung diseases. It is a Centre of Excellence for Stroke Prevention. Since its creation exactly one year ago, there has been a significant drop in sudden cardiac deaths within the South West region. Celebrations to mark the anniversary were organized at the Centre, situated adjacent to the Buea Mountain Hotel on 2 June

Fako Heart Centre Buea is equipped with modern, state-of-the-art medical kits for diagnosis, follow-up and treatment of patients presenting heart and lung issues

Dr. Fred Perry Kemah (MB, BS, MD, PhD, FRCP, FESC), a Consultant Cardiologist at Fako Heart Centre Buea, noted that since the advent of the Heart Centre, “patients now enjoy local access to specialist cardiac medicine. “This is a consultant cardiologist-driven service….. The high quality of care delivered at Fako Heart Centre is based on several factors including the huge number of nursing staff trained to deliver not only medical care but also social care,” remarked Dr. Kemah.

                “Fako Heart Centre is unique in terms of its services in the sense that it offers a tailored service in keeping with Western standards. That is to say, upon arrival at the centre you have your vital parameters checked at the triage and patients are escalated based on the findings from the triage. If for example, a patient comes in with a blood pressure of 180 or 200 systolic, and 120 diastolic, that is being flagged up as an emergency. If a patient comes in with oxygen saturation of less than 92, it is being flagged up as an emergency. If a patient comes up with fever, that is being flagged up as an emergency. That explains why Fako Heart Centre offers a fantastic triage service,” further explains Dr Fred Perry Kemah.

                He added: “On top of that, Fako Heart Centre completes its preliminary consultation with complete work up of blood tests, ECG (Echocardiogram) which gives the clinician after consulting his/her patient with a working diagnosis. Therefore, at Fako Heart Centre, the diagnosis is always established immediately after consultation. It's being perceived as slightly expensive because it is all-in-one. At Fako Heart Centre, patients are seen immediately, have their bloods done immediately, have their investigations done immediately, before going back home, unlike other specialist facilities where patients are being seen, go home and come back the next day for other investigations and so on and so forth. Fako Heart Centre does everything at the same time because we don't waste time in cardiac medicine. With cardio-respiratory medicine, time is of the essence,” he added.

                The London-trained Consultant Cardiologist continued that: “Fako Heart has a track record so far with zero mortality in 12 months. This is based on good medical practice and that involves working within our capacity and communicating clearly with patients about the critical situations patients find themselves in. If we identify non-cardiovascular patients, we refer them to the appropriate specialist on time. If we receive a patient in a critical and terminal condition, we advise the patient about their critical and terminal state and of course no need keeping them in a private institution where they'll spend money with a very poor outcome. In that case we arrange for alternative measures”.

Treatment at early stage

                “In addition to that, we start treatment at a very early stage when we suspect a particular condition and of course we seek advice when necessary. This has been so feasible to make us unique that after 12 months our mortality is zero,” Dr. Kemah noted.

                “That aside, we take patients’ feedback (response to our questionnaire) very seriously to enable us progress in terms of the services we provide. We offer a wide range of investigations which makes us unique in terms of non-invasive cardiovascular medicine. We have our highly skilled nursing staff working in our triage, we have our lab which offers a wide range of blood investigations including cardiac specific blood tests notably troponin for heart attacks, d-dimers if we suspect deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, BNP for acute heart failure and of course CRP for signs of inflammation and PSA for assessment of the prostate,” he added.

                Meanwhile, the renowned cardiologist went ahead to say: “In addition, we offer a wide range of non-conventional cardiovascular ultrasound studies; carotid doppler studies, that is, supra aortic blood vessels, thyroid ultrasound studies, breast ultrasound studies, muscular skeletal studies, abdominal ultrasound studies including liver, spleen and the kidneys, pelvic ultrasound studies, gynecological ultrasound studies, prostate studies and so on. This makes us unique in the sense that if patients come for example with breathlessness in conjunction with leg swellings, we always try to exclude clots in the legs which have travelled to the lungs”.

Only Centre with Tilt Table Test

                “More to that, apart from our modern ultrasound devices, we are the only centre in Cameroon offering a tilt table test. This is a test designed to establish the diagnoses in patients presenting with collapse after blood works, ECG and echocardiogram are unremarkable. The tilt table test helps to establish vasovagal causes of collapse. As you know, recent studies have actually highlighted the need and utility of rehabilitation service. Fako Heart Centre is the only cardiac centre right now in the region delivering acute cardiac care. That is, at the point of entry, we assess you and prior to discharge you undergo a cardiac rehabilitation programme that gives the patient fitness to go back to community life,” Dr Kemah said.

                “And again as per recent guidelines from the European Society and American Society of Cardiology, most of our patients are seen within a timeframe of two to three weeks, especially those with acute heart failure. As we celebrate our first anniversary, we are offering heart screening with a view to identifying healthy people in the community with potential risk factors of cardiovascular diseases,” he added.

                “We take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported us throughout this process; the Owner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Fako Heart Centre, Mrs. Irene Nalowa KEMAH, our entire and very committed staff, the staff at CRTV and Mount Cameroon FM Buea, the President of the Cameroon Medical Council, all Members of the Fako Heart Centre Board of Trustees (BOT), including Justice Njonjo Njie, Mr. Walla Henry Ekema Wotany, Justice Beatrice Nambangi, Auntie Becky Effoe, Mr Gobina Simon, Mr Kolle George Nkume, Mr. Namaya Eyoh Senior, Mme Agnes Nduma Mbwaye, Mbua Emmanuel Mbua” Dr Kemah noted.

Long-term plans

                Concerning the Centre’s plans for the future, Dr Kemah said: “Our long-term plan involves creating the interventional lab so that patients no longer need to travel abroad for interventional approaches. By doing, that we'll complete the invasive aspect of cardiovascular medicine in our region. That entails much more effort and of course financial commitments. We'll do whatever it takes to deliver those services which are Paramount and will help save lives. Thank you”.

Free 1st anniversary consultations

                Meanwhile, as the Centre fetes its first anniversary, it will from June 1 be offering free consultations.

About Fako Heart Centre Buea

                Fako Heart Centre Buea is a purpose-built Specialist Cardiac Hospital and a Centre of Excellence for Stroke Prevention. It specializes in Heart and Lung Diseases. Its key mission is to reduce the burden of Heart Disease and Stroke on a national scale. It went operational on June 1, 2019.

                The alarming number of patients with cardiovascular conditions consulted so far, attests to the fact that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a severe burden across Cameroon.

                The vision-bearers of Fako Heart Centre are Mrs. Irene Naloua Kemah, holder of an MBA Finance degree (London, UK), the Owner and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Dr. Fred Perry Kemah (MB, BS, MD, Ph.D., FRCP, & FESC), UK-based Consultant Cardiologist and Senior Lecturer in Cardiac Medicine.

Statistical analysis (June 1, 2019 – June 1, 2020)

Since its launch, Fako Heart Centre has had 1,366 clinic-based consultations (808 females, 558 males) and 804 outreach consultations (391 females, 413 males).

A total of 2,170 persons were consulted with 319 patients admitted by Fako Heart Centre Buea during the past 12 months with no deaths recorded (zero mortality). The predominant conditions are High Blood Pressure (Hypertension), Diabetes and Heart Failure.

                A majority of the persons who consulted came from the South West (1,010) and the North West Regions (270). Some of the patients came from very far distant places, including the South Region (Ebolowa), Extreme North (Mayo Tsanaga), Adamawa (Ngaoundere), Nigeria (Imo State) and the Central African Republic (Bangui).

The key innovations include the start of an Erectile Dysfunction Clinic and a Weight-loss Clinic.

                Fako Heart Centre can be contact at: Location: Beside Mountain Hotel, Buea; Tel: (237) 673 418 812; Email: fakoheart@outlook.com; Website: www.fakoheart.com