HMC’s Heart Hospital celebrates life-saving efforts recognised by US Ambassador

Doha, Qatar: On Sunday April 20, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) welcomed US Ambassador to Qatar H E Timmy Davis who visited the Heart Hospital to per...

Doha, Qatar: On Sunday April 20, Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) welcomed US Ambassador to Qatar H E Timmy Davis who visited the Heart Hospital to personally thank the medical team for their extraordinary efforts in saving the life of an American patient whose complex condition required highly specialised care. 

The US citizen was admitted to Heart Hospital in December 2024, after experiencing flu-like symptoms that quickly progressed into a life-threatening heart condition.

The patient was diagnosed with severe heart failure and a dangerously slow heartbeat, which required the urgent insertion of a temporary pacemaker, followed by a permanent one. 

Her condition rapidly deteriorated despite these treatments, and she was moved to the hospital’s cardiac intensive care unit with serious heart failure and cardiogenic shock and underwent extra corporeal cardio-pulmonary bypass (ECMO) support with and an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP). 

In light of her critical condition and need for advanced mechanical cardiac support, an international air ambulance transfer was arranged with in-flight ECMO capability. As one of the most complex types of patient transfers, it was meticulously planned and overseen by HMC’s multidisciplinary teams. The patient was successfully transported to The Johns Hopkins Hospital in the United States where she underwent successful heart transplantation.