The Trust Fund for Specialised Medical Care is a body corporate regulated by an Act (Act 52 of 1992/12 March 1993) of Parliament. It is administered and managed by a Board of Trustees. The objects of the Fund are to set up and operate a Specialised Medical Care Centre and to set up and manage other institutions for the provision of high-tech medical care.
The Cardiac Centre, an annex of the SSRN Hospital Pamplemousses, became operational in June 1998 with the objectives of primarily providing cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology coupled with specialized care to cardiac patients and secondarily promoting neuro-surgery and specialized care to neuro patients. The Cardiac Centre is the only referral tertiary center for cardiac surgery, Angiography and Angioplasty in the public sector.
Cardiac surgery was first performed in Mauritius in June 1984 by Professor Hassan Raffa from Saudi Arabia. At that time it was directed mostly towards treating patients with rheumatic heart disease and the operations involved were either correction of cardiac valves or replacement of the faulty valves by mechanical valves.
The first coronary artery bypass graft surgery was performed in 1991 by Prof Cerene and team from France followed by Prof Saksena and team from India, Prof Bos and team from Holland, Prof Ackchurin and team from Russia, Prof Yacoub and team from London and Prof Ghammal and team from Egypt. From 1984 to May 1998, the service depended heavily on cardiac surgeons visiting from abroad and operating on an average of twenty patients each time they landed on the island. The local service could only provide for about 6-8 cases per month. This was certainly not optimal care as the waiting list for cardiac surgery kept creeping up at an accelerated rate in view of the high incidence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, sedentary occupation, poor dietary planning, cigarette smoking and other risk factors.
The creation of the Cardiac Centre became possible due to the following factors:
- The increasing demand for the service.
- The availability of the expertise locally.
- The availability of the appropriate equipment.
- The funding provided by the Government.
The team of the Cardiac Centre which is headed by an Executive Director comprises the following:
- Cardiac Surgeons
- Vascular Surgeon
- Cardiologists
- Anaesthetists
- Registered Medical Officers
- Nursing personnel
- Perfusionists
- Physiotherapist
- Administrative Personnel including Finance
- Medical Records Staff
- Nursing Aids
- Hospital Attendants
- Handymen and other supporting staff from Stores and Linen Department