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GHA unveils news catheterisation lab

Photo by Johnny Buegja

The Gibraltar Health Authority on Friday unveiled a new catheterisation lab, providing a service that until now was not available at St Bernard’s Hospital.

The lab is set to operate in November and was unveiled by GHA Director General Kevin McGee, the Minister for Health, Gemma Arias-Vasquez, and Dr Roger Moore, the consultant cardiologist who led the project.

Staff will be training with the new equipment between now and its operating start time in November.

The lab contains a fluoroscopy scope, which enables staff to treat a series of cardiac complaints such as cardiac arrest.

Mr McGee said: “I think this is absolutely state of the art.”

“I think we’re very lucky in Gibraltar to have this unit.”

Dr Moore said the new lab “enables us to treat a whole series of cardiac complaints.”

“The most obvious one is in the form of heart attacks.”

“So, heart attacks involve arteries that are narrowed and, in some cases, blocked.”

“These will need reopening and on some occasions that needs doing as quickly as possible.”

“Obviously, at the moment, for these procedures we're having to travel to Spain, either for the more urgent ones, to a hospital about five or six miles away, but for our non-urgents its almost all the way to Malaga.”

“This is something that's going to make a big difference to the local community.”

Ms Arias-Vasquez said the new lab is part of plans to repatriate medical services to Gibraltar.

She told those at the unveiling that anyone in the hospital requiring treatment in the lab can be escorted up to it in 90 seconds.

Ms Arias-Vasquez also thanked the Gibraltar Cardiac Association in their lobbying efforts to push for the implementation of the lab.

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