Coimbatore Medical College Hospital completes 54 permanent pacemaker implants

CMCH completed 54 permanent pacemaker implants, covered under the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. Lakshmi, a 37-yr-old woman from Palani, was diagnosed with rare co-occurrence of RHD, mitral valve regurgitation and heart block. A medical team successfully treated her, implanting a permanent pacemaker. CMCH is a 'hub hospital' for cardiac patients from 18 'spoke hospitals' in four districts. Private facilities charge ₹3-4 lakh for mitral valve replacement and ₹2 lakh for permanent pacemaker implant.

The Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (CMCH) completed 54 permanent pacemaker implants recently. The cost of the 54 permanent pacemaker implants done at the hospital were covered under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.

According to the hospital administration, the 51st procedure done for Lakshmi, a 37-year-old woman from Palani, was challenging as she was diagnosed with rheumatic heart disease (RHD), mitral valve regurgitation and heart block due to damage of nerves to the heart muscles.

A release from CMCH said only 2.5% of people developed heart block due to RHD and mitral valve regurgitation. The woman’s heart rate was 30 to 35 beats per minute as against the average heart rate of 60 to 100 beats per minute. Knowing that the very low heart rate can eventually lead to heart failure, the doctors implanted a temporary pacemaker for the woman on June 25.

After her heart rate was stabilised, a medical team led by E. Sreenivasan, Head of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, and Kalyana Sundaram, Head of the Department of Anaesthesiology, performed a mitral valve replacement for the woman on June 26.

As the woman recovered from the mitral valve surgery, the doctors decided to implant a permanent pacemaker. A team headed by J. Nambirajan, Head of the Department of Cardiology, performed the procedure on July 8.

CMCH Dean A. Nirmala lauded the medical team for successfully treating the woman as the co-occurrence of RHD, mitral valve regurgitation and heart block is very rare.

CMCH is the ‘hub hospital’ to which cardiac patients are referred from 18 government hospitals, known as ‘spoke hospitals’, from four districts such as Coimbatore, Erode, the Nilgiris and Tiruppur. In private facilities, the mitral valve replacement surgery costs ₹3 to ₹4 lakh and around ₹2 lakh would be required for permanent pacemaker implant.