Latest update January 4th, 2025 5:30 AM

Guyana's largest selling daily and New York's most popular weekly

Latest News

Interventional Cardiologist always on-call at CHI – official

Sep 28, 2010 News

Reports which suggest that no doctor was available at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) to attend to television personality and Leader of the Justice For All Party, Chandra Narine Sharma, could not be further from the truth, the institute stated. A doctor is always on call, a spokesperson added.
An official at the institution said that on learning that Sharma had reportedly suffered a heart attack recently, officials at CHI had advised, Sharma’s wife, Ms Savitri Singh, that she merely needed to make an appointment to see the resident doctor, Dr Pratik Soni.
Dr Soni, an Interventional Cardiologist, has been operating at CHI on a fulltime basis since last year.
He has completed more than 35 angiograms and angioplasties successfully. In fact CHI’s ability to offer an immediate response to cardiac emergencies around the clock became possible even in the absence of Dr Gary Stephens, CHI’s Chief Executive Office and Cardiac Surgeon.
According to reports reaching this newspaper, Sharma had visited the facility claiming to have symptoms of heavy breathing back in February. Though initially reluctant to accept further attention from the local facility, Sharma, who is a diabetic, was eventually persuaded to undergo the operation.
A stent that was implanted in his heart some four years ago in the United States had become critically blocked causing the constant palpitation, thus the need for the operation.  In addition to completing the angioplasty with a balloon cutting, the expert doctor was also required to implant a stent within the stent already existing in Sharma’s heart.
On this occasion, he was said to have visited the institute with his wife. He reportedly remained in the vehicle while his wife visited the institute seeking a letter that would have cleared Mr Sharma to travel overseas.
However, Mr Sharma never presented himself and the letter was never issued, a source said.
Sharma who is currently embroiled in a sexual offence court case has had his United States visa revoked by the United States Embassy.
He was scheduled to appear in court yesterday, however, due to his reported illness, in conjunction with the fact that Special Prosecutor, Sanjeev Datadin, is currently out of the country, the matter has been postponed to October 22.
Dr Soni, the interventional cardiologist and an Indian national, is qualified in this field and has been practising cardiology over the past 10 years. He has undertaken more than 8,000 Coronary Angiographies and more than 2,500 Coronary Angioplasties, many of them with stent implantations.
He is versed in other interventional procedures the likes of Carotid, Renal and Peripheral Angioplasties, Pacemaker implantations, biventricular pacing for heart failure, ICD implantations for the prevention of sudden cardiac death, balloon valve dilatations, endovascular repair of aortic abnormalities and various other specialised cardiac procedures.
Apart from these, he is an expert in the field of echocardiography, colour Doppler, Tee Ambulatory ECG monitoring (Holter), Ambulatory BP monitoring and nuclear cardiology.
Dr Soni has to his credit the implantation of one of the first biventricular pacemaker and has been accorded the rare honour of performing and demonstrating the use of stents in calcified arteries in Brussels and Belgium.
In addition to his many accomplishments, Dr Soni has designed and patented many products for interventional cardiology out of which some are in production and are being used the world over.
The Interventional Cardiologist has dealt with several clients since being posted at CHI, among them Sharma himself a few months ago, who underwent an angioplasty operation.  Angioplasty is a procedure used to open blocked or narrowed coronary (heart) arteries. The procedure improves blood flow to the heart muscle.

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | December, 2nd, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

GBBFF boss reflects on milestones and leadership transition

GBBFF boss reflects on milestones and leadership transition

Jan 04, 2025

Kaieteur Sports- Guyana’s bodybuilding scene has reached unprecedented heights, with outgoing President of the Guyana Body Building and Fitness Federation (GBBFF), Keavon Bess, hailing 2024 as...
Read More
National stars shine in GCF End of Year Chess Tournament

National stars shine in GCF End of Year Chess...

Jan 04, 2025

Two more young cricketers benefit from Project “Cricket Gear for young and promising cricketers in Guyana”.

Two more young cricketers benefit from Project...

Jan 04, 2025

Tonight: Sparta Boss goes up against Bent Street ‘A’ for K&S National Futsal title

Tonight: Sparta Boss goes up against Bent Street...

Jan 03, 2025

Botafgo pummel Milerock, 11-7, to become new UDFA Christmas Futsal Champions 

Botafgo pummel Milerock, 11-7, to become new UDFA...

Jan 03, 2025

BCB player transfer window opens for 2025 

BCB player transfer window opens for 2025 

Jan 03, 2025

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Freedom of speech is our core value at Kaieteur News. If the letter/e-mail you sent was not published, and you believe that its contents were not libellous, let us know, please contact us by phone or email.

Feel free to send us your comments and/or criticisms.
Contact: 624-6456; 225-8452; 225-8458; 225-8463; 225-8465; 225-8473 or 225-8491.
Or by Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]