ACC to help Indian hospitals improve heart care

New Delhi: Seeking to enhance healthcare delivery in the country, the American College of Cardiology (ACC) has partnered with an Indian firm to set up centres of excellence at various hospitals to help improve cardiovascular care.

At a press conference held here, ACC representative and Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University's School of Medicine, Dr Jeptha P Curtis, said collaborations will entail helping the partnering hospital in building a clinical data registry.

The ACC has joined hands with the Delhi-based manufacturer of drug-eluting stents and other medical equipment, Transluminal Therapeutics, which would in turn help connect the American medical body with hospitals.

"We have already spoken to a few leading private hospitals in Delhi and some in Mumbai have also shown interest.

"As part of this partnership, the ACC will set up an international centre of excellence at partnering hospitals, which would be a certification of quality," Transluminal Therapeutics' Managing Director, Gurmit Singh Chugh, told reporters.

Alyssa McCormick, Director of International Affairs at the ACC, said the centres would help the hospital by providing a review of the data given by the hospitals on cardiovascular care.

"So, we will bring in our expertise and technical know-how, and analyse the data given by the hospital, and offer them insights, which would help them improve healthcare delivery," she said.

Curtis said cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of deaths and disability in India, and the ACC's feedback will help hospitals improve patient care by giving them a comparison with global averages on various parameters.

"One aspect that we talk of in cardio-care is 'door-to-balloon' time, which is the time spent from the moment a patient is brought inside the hospital to the time he or she gets cardio-care. And, one of the aspects could be a reduction in that 'door-to-balloon' time," he said.

The ACC was set up in 1949 and has about 52,000 members worldwide, McCormick said, adding, "We have about 5,000 members in India."