Top Korean cardiologists in SL to share medical expertise
Saturday, 7 December 2013 00:01
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
By Shabiya Ali Ahlam
A top five-member Korean cardiologist team visited Sri Lanka this week to share with local doctors their approaches and techniques used for treating coronary diseases.
To exchange knowledge and expertise in this regard, the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Sri Lanka together with National Hospital Consultant Cardiologist Dr. Vajira Senaratne organised a lecture on the case of Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO), a complete blockage of the coronary artery for more than three months resulting in a significant decrease in blood flow.
According to the National Hospital, the Korean Embassy had volunteered to bring down the experts to share their knowledge on the subject. For that purpose, the embassy had invited senior cardiologists from the Cardiovascular Welfare and Research Institute in Korea, an organisation founded for the purpose of sharing medical knowledge and recent developments in technology with professionals from other countries.
While the team was led by Prof. Do-Sun Lim, the lecture on CTO was delivered by Prof. Cheol-Woong Yu to a group of about 50 Lankan cardiologists at the National Hospital, Colombo on Thursday (5). Prof. Ryu’s lecture highlighted the apparatus, approaches and techniques used in that country to treat cases of CTO.
Following the lecture, the Korean cardiologists demonstrated on two cases at the National Hospital catheterisation laboratory, as to how CTO’s are treated in Korea.
Prof. Lim when asked the difference in the techniques used by the two countries when treating CTO cases, he said: “The techniques used are more or less the same. The difference is the devices used for the procedure. We are using new technology, so if the same were to be used in Sri Lanka, the doctors would require more skills on using such instruments since some of them are not available in Sri Lanka at the moment.”
The visit of the Korean cardiologists is expected to lay the foundation for medical exchanges between Korea and Sri Lanka, which will lead to the training programs of Lankan medical professionals in that country.
-Pix by Upul Abayasekara
