Health Ministry: 11,000 PCI procedures yearly, figures at serious level

KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Some 11,000 Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) procedures are done every year in the country, figures that have reached a serious level, Deputy Health Minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said.

Dr Lee said the cases were recorded at the National Heart Institute (IJN) and hospitals under the Health Ministry, among them the Serdang Hospital in Selangor and the Penang Hospital.

An average of 30 coronary heart disease cases are treated each day in government hospitals, he said.

Also, since 1992, 3.7 million patients have sought treatment in IJN, he added.  

“These numbers also include foreign nationals,” he told the media after officiating the “Be a Heart Hero” conference at the Heart Foundation of Malaysia here today.

Also present were Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and foundation president Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid.

On another matter, Dr Lee said no summonses have been issued just yet on air-conditioned eateries which failed to comply with the no smoking ban.

“What we have been doing the whole year is educational enforcement, which emphasises more on educating smokers and rather than punishment.

“We need time to keep the public informed of the ban. Everyone seems to think this is a new policy but in actual truth, the no smoking ruling has been there since 2004,” he said.

He said enforcement will be increased once the ban takes full effect on January 1, 2020. — Bernama