HMC Heart Hospital receives 250 to 300 patients daily at Outpatient Dept

Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) Heart Hospital is receiving 250 to 300 patients daily at its Outpatient Department."The number of patients is increasing. When we opened the hospital, we used to see 40,000 patients a year but now we are seeing around 80,000 patients over the past four years at the Outpatient Department," Dr Nidal Ahmed Asaad, HMC Chairman of Cardiology and Director of Electrophysiology, said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce the 14th Gulf Heart Association Conference on Thursday. He said diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, smoking and sedentary lifestyle are the risk factors for patients with coronary artery disease and heart attack. Asaad said the conference will focus on prevention of heart attacks among patients with high cholesterol."There is a new medication for the treatment of diabetes and high blood pressure that became available recently," he said. ” CATHERINE W GICHUKI page 2