Local MP and Minister for Health, Sussan Ley, today officially opened a state-of-the-art Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory at Albury-Wodonga Private Hospital.

The only equipment of its kind in the region, the service has recently been upgraded to meet the needs of the community and avoid patients being forced to travel long distances for many cardiac procedures.

A Cardiac Catheter Laboratory is used for non-invasive treatment of cardiac disease. It is able to determine if there are any blockages in the arteries or heart under direct x-ray vision.

The new equipment was commissioned in January this year and has already enabled over 150 patients to be successfully treated for a range of procedures including angiograms and the insertion of stents as well as pacemaker insertion.

This system features the first of its kind Intellispace Portal Cardiac image reporting and archiving system in Asia Pacific. This allows the reporting specialists the ability to diagnose and report on acquired images of the coronary vessels with ease and confidence.

According to Ms Ley, “prior to this, our local doctors had to send patients elsewhere to investigate what heart condition you were suffering from, only to come back here for follow up treatment.

“This is a terrific example of providing the best equipment available to treat rural and regional patients.”

Today’s events come ahead of the Abbott Government’s pre-election commitment for the establishment of a Cardiac Catheter Laboratory to treat public patients at Albury Base Hospital. Construction is expected to begin early next year.