During 2024, the Clinical Cardiac Surgery Service recorded a record number of open heart interventions. And thanks to the renovations that have taken place in this unit, possibilities have been created to increase the number of more complicated surgeries for patients.
The infrastructural improvements that took place last year have increased the number of beds in the intensive care unit, but also in the entire clinic, says the director of the Cardiosurgery Clinical Service, Shpejtim Shurdhiqi.
According to the UCCK cardiologist, with the creation of conditions, the number of open heart surgical interventions has already increased.
“It has been a very successful year for the cardiac surgery clinical service. During the year 2024, we managed to renovate the clinic as a whole, which has created a good space for all the staff, especially for the patients. What is important is that the number of beds in the intensive unit has been increased, the number has increased from 4 to 10 beds, while the number of beds in the ward has increased from 14 to 17. So this increased space, the renovations of the top floor has enabled us to have an increased activity of surgical interventions in our ward.. we managed to increase this number of surgeries significantly, while 6-7 surgeries were performed within week, we have now managed to bring this number to 10, while we also have urgent or emergency cases throughout the week. This has greatly influenced the gradual reduction of the waiting list, which I think in the future, this number of the waiting list will be further reduced”, says Shurdhiqi.
This unit recorded a record number of operations last year.
“Last year we had a record number of operations in the history of cardiac surgery, until the end of December we managed to perform 372 open heart surgical interventions. This, as I said, has influenced the waiting list to be reduced”, said cardiac surgeon Shurdhiqi.
In Cardiac surgery, starting from last year, the number of complicated open heart operations has also increased.
The director of this unit, Shpejtim Shurdhiqi, says that they plan to carry out more interventions with minimally invasive methods in the period of two to three years.
“In addition to the number of operations, the number of more complicated operations has also increased, which means that two or three valves are replaced in one patient today, or a bypass is also performed on the same patient. They are complex operations, while earlier they were much rarer. So now it has become a routine form of performing combined operations, including both the valvular part and the revascularization part of the heart, add here the interventions related to aortic diseases, whether elective or emergency which are performed during the week or year … During the past year, in cooperation with the Zurich Hospital, with the help of Professor Xhemajli, we managed to perform three cases with minimally invasive methods, which in the future, in a period of 2-3 years, will help us for these procedures to start and be performed within the clinic”, Shurdhiqi emphasized.
Given that the performance of a heart surgery in private health institutions for Kosovar patients has a high cost, up to 30 thousand euros, the provision of this service at UCCK is free of charge.
“We perform open heart operations free of charge, no payment is made by the patient or family members. So it is a great advantage because such interventions cost a lot, over 10,000, 20,000, 30,000 euros, whilhere they are all performed without any payment”, said Shurdhiqi. The Cardiosurgery Service is planning to be equipped with new equipment during this year.
