Essequibo man gets free life-saving cardiac care at GPHC

Sep 25, 2018 News

Before and after images of Mohamed’s artery. Red arrow shows 100 percent blockage and Green arrow shows open artery aided by stent.

The efficiency of medical workers within the Accident and Emergency Department [A&E] and the Cardiac Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation [GPHC] has helped to save the life of a 34-year-old man.

The man, Azeem Mohamed, of Pomona, Essequibo, was on Friday rushed to the public hospital with severe pain in the region of his chest. This publication was informed that Mohamed had travelled to Georgetown for work and was over-nighting at an Eccles, East Bank Demerara residence when pain and sweating, which were later found to be that of a heart attack, started to develop.

Reports are that the man was first rushed to a private institution but was eventually transferred to the GPHC where his condition was confirmed. At the A&E Department a number of tests were quickly conducted before he was sent to the Cardiac Unit for specialised treatment.

This publication was informed that the man was required to undergo a coronary angiogram. The angiogram is a procedure that uses x-ray imaging to see the heart’s blood vessels in order to determine if there is any restriction in blood flow going to the heart. From the angiogram it was deduced that Mohamed had a complete blockage in one of his arteries. Arteries are blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart to other parts of the body.

To address the medical emergency a stent was placed into Mohamed’s artery. A stent is a small mesh tube that is used to treat narrow or weak arteries.

Mohamed recalled that soon after the anaesthesia wore off the pain he came to the hospital with had dissipated. Yesterday he was resting comfortably in the Intensive Care Unit of the GPHC and is expected to be discharged before this week ends.

But during an interview with this publication yesterday, Mohamed disclosed that the symptoms of his condition did not develop overnight. He recalled that a week earlier he started experiencing a stomach pain which he was convinced was ‘gas’.

He, moreover, decided to use a home-made remedy to get rid of his presumed condition. “I drink some warm lemon juice because I know long now that suppose to help with wind pain [gas],” said Mohamed.

According to the man after using the lemon juice the pain indeed subsided leading him to believe that all was well again.

But last week Tuesday he felt a chest pain that had him thinking differently. “It was like near my heart suh I decided to go tek a heart check,” Mohamed recalled. At a hospital on the Essequibo Coast, Mohamed said that an ECG test was done and he was cleared of any heart complications.

“I left home good, good Friday morning to come to town,” said Mohamed as he recalled how his condition developed to an unbearable state by night fall. Mohamed who cooks and sells for a living, said that he had travelled to Georgetown to cook for a wedding house but never got around to completing the work.

Speaking from his hospital bed in the GPHC’s Intensive Care Unit yesterday, Mohamed said that he learnt that the smoking habit that he had for nearly 10 years as well as his alcohol use could have contributed to his condition.

He was advised, too, that it is important for him to change his diet to include more healthy foods if he is to prevent another heart attack.

Mohamed’s condition could have also been compounded by diabetes, a condition that he was diagnosed with 10 years ago. Diabetes, according to medical experts, can often lead to heart disease since over time the high blood glucose from diabetes can damage the blood vessels and the nerves that control the heart and blood vessels.

It has therefore been concluded that people with diabetes tend to develop heart disease at a younger age than people without diabetes. In adults with diabetes, the most common causes of death are heart disease and stroke, medical experts have revealed.

Grateful for the medical attention he received at no cost, both Mohamed and his wife of 13 years, Subreena, were high in praise for the service provided to them at the GPHC as well as those who rushed him to hospital when he developed his unbearable symptoms.

The two who are parents of two pre-teen boys, are happy that they will be able to have a few more years together as a happy family.

Mohamed who claimed that he has learnt a lot over the past few days said, “I have to tell people don’t take no stomach pain for granted. Don’t waste time like me; get check out right away because it could save your life…

“I thank God for saving my life; for giving the doctors and the whole team that work on me wisdom to save my life,” Mohamed added.

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