Belarus ranks 9th in Europe by number of heart transplant surgeries

Belarus is ninth in Europe in terms of the number of heart transplants performed, deputy director for clinical work of the National Cardiology Research Center Alexander Bulgak told journalists on 7 May, BelTA has learned.

Heart transplant is a treatment of the patients diagnosed with chronic heart failure. More than 165 operations of the kind have been performed in Belarus since 2009, around 40 operations per year in recent times. “We rank ninth in Europe by the number of heart transplants performed. We have made significant progress in this field,” Alexander Bulgak pointed out.

Belarus has reached a high level in terms of implanting different devices that help prolong a patient's life. The devices are available at the Cardiology National Research Center and in regional centers. Alexander Bulgak noted that in this regard Belarus has not yet reached the level of developed European countries. However, it has already outperformed other countries of the CIS. “It is obvious that we have made significant progress here,” he said.

In Belarus there is almost a 5,600 bed space for cardiac patients and 274 beds for patients in need of cardiac surgery. As of 1 January 2015, there were 666 cardiologists and 109 heart surgeons in the country.