David R. Holmes Jr1*, MD, MACC; Spencer King2, MD, MACC; Anthony H. Gershlick3, MB, BS; Jean Marco4, MD; Jacques Koolen5, MD, PhD; Augusto Pichard6, MD, FACC; Jean-Pierre Bassand7, MD; David I. Kettles8, MBChB, MMed, FCP(SA); William Wijns9, MD, PhD, FESC; Mpiko Ntsekhe10, MD, PhD, FACC; for the South African Society of Interventional Cardiology
1. Department of Cardiology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA; 2. Department of Cardiology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA; 3. University Hospitals of Leicester, Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Leicester, United Kingdom; 4. Department of Cardiolo
Unmet interventional cardiology needs have been identified in South Africa. These relate to inadequate staffing in terms of the consultant faculty in public teaching hospitals, a marked shortage of trained interventional cardiologists, limited experience of fellows in complex interventions, availability of the newer devices, haemodynamic assessment and treatment of structural heart disease, and limited interaction between public and private practice cardiologists. Resolution will require multiple initiatives. Managing these challenges would allow South Africa to become a model for other underserved healthcare systems.
Interventional cardiovascular care is evolving rapidly in terms of the specific diseases to be treated. These ...