MANZA was invited by TEG to a coffee morning at the Oakwood Hotel and Residence to watch a presentation by Dr Aslannif Roslan, a top Cardiologist from the IJN, (Institut Jantung Negara), the National Heart Institute.
We were welcomed by Mr Ramesh Ronald, The General Manager of the Oakwood Hotel (which has just been renovated) and the hotel kindly served complimentary coffee and tea with refreshments, as well as a light lunch during the break, when two lucky guests won door prizes generously provided by The Oakwood Hotel.
Dr Roslan started his presentation by telling us that many years ago after Dr Mahathir had his first heart attack, (and he insisted on having his by-passes performed by surgeons in Malaysia and not travel to Singapore) he wanted Malaysia to have a world class Heart Facility and the INL, National Heart Institute, was born.
Dr Roslan discussed with us common and not so common heart problems, as well as the latest treatment options and in particular how the IJN, National Heart Institute, has 6 top cardiac specialists on duty 24 hours a day! We all came home with the hospital’s Ambulance and Telephone details firmly entered into our mobile phones. He told us that very often with complicated cardiac cases, other hospitals send their patients to the IJN for their expertise.
It was such a fascinating morning and the time just sped by. I think we could all have carried on all afternoon, listening to Dr Roslan. He was so passionate about his field of medicine and we were shown videos of him performing echo-cardiograms and other procedures whilst he explained how to read them and interpret the results. He also showed us a video of what he called a simple procedure (!) inserting a pacemaker into a patient’s heart. It really was spellbinding and he was equally happy to answer our numerous questions.
Dr Roslan’s top tips to try and prevent a heart attack and heart disease:
• If you have high blood pressure get it under control urgently
• Take statins if you have high cholesterol
• Stop Smoking
• Stop or severely limit alcohol
• Control Diabetes as this is a leading cause of heart disease
• Eat a healthy diet
• Exercise at least 30 mins a day, five days a week, and be panting slightly at the end
And go straight to hospital if you have any of these symptoms: Chest pain (like someone heavy sitting on your chest), pain down both arms, profuse sweating, violent vomiting. If you can get there within an hour for treatment there will be very little damage to your heart muscle.
There was so much other information he gave us. Make sure you are there next time!