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Seychellois heart surgeon Govind Chetty makes headlines in the UK |09 December 2015

Top Seychellois heart surgeon, Dr Govind Chetty, made headlines in the United Kingdom recently after helping his cardiac surgery department at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff become among the top three heart surgery centres with one of the best success rate in the whole country.

The success rate of his team was 98.67% which is among the top three in the country, as published by the Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery of Great Britain & Northern Ireland. The UK average surgery survival rate is 97.7%.

The man in charge of a Welsh hospital where people were said to be regularly dying while waiting for heart surgery says cardiac waiting times have now been halved.

Last year the Royal College of Surgeons told BBC Wales heart patients at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff were waiting too long for operations.

Now the body says some services have improved but there is still more to do.

In an email interview with Seychelles NATION, Dr Chetty said they have achieved this through good team work.

“Cardiac surgery is an extremely demanding field where there is a very fine line between survival and death. However, we feel that it is extremely important for our patients to know that they are in good hands and hence we as a society, we have come out with these results in an open and transparent manner,” said Dr Chetty.

He added: “This was as a result of proper organisation, team work, dedication and most importantly working with an ethos of putting our patients first. Patient's oriented Prudent Health Care is a very important part of our day to day service delivery and as such we continue as a team, to aspire to improve further in the years to come.”

Dr Chetty noted that his “ultimate wish would be to be able to offer this service to our patients locally in Seychelles in all aspects of heart and lung diseases but of course, this would require significant investment but most importantly the interest of the major players in healthcare of Seychelles”.

Born and brought up in Seychelles, Dr Chetty grew up at Plaisance and as he personally thinks not many people know him, he usually has to introduce himself as the younger brother to Devin, Krishnan Chetty, Chalam or indeed Mohan Chetty of Plaisance.

He studied at Seychelles College, then left and did his basic medicine at the Christian Medical College in Vellore, India. The Christian Medical College is among the top two medical institutions in India, a place he got in through tense open competition.

Dr Chetty then returned and worked at the Victoria Hospital in Seychelles as a general surgeon along with Mr Lett between 1992 and 1995. Subsequently he moved to the United Kingdom and embarked on general surgical training in Manchester and London. He was then able to get into an Advanced Specialist training appointment through extremely fierce open competition in cardiac and thoracic surgery in the UK. He worked under Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub at Harefield Hospital in West London.  Professor Sir Magdi Yacoub is a world famous heart surgeon who did his first heart transplant in the UK.

Dr Chetty said he completed his higher specialist cardiothoracic training between rotations in Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield in UK followed by advanced Fellowship in major aortic surgery and heart valve repairs in Sheffield.

He went for further advanced course in thoracic surgery under the auspices of Harvard University in Boston, United States of America and is now a permanent member of the Harvard Postgraduate Medical Association.

The Seychellois doctor completed his cardiac and thoracic training in 2007 and was board certified by the Intercollegiate Specialty Board of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of England, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Ireland. He was then accredited as a specialist by the General Medical Council, UK.

Now a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and also an educational supervisor accredited by the Wales Deanery and the General Medical Council, UK, Dr Chetty is also responsible for training of specialist trainees in cardiothoracic surgery.

He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and that of The Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons in Glasgow and a member of The Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery of Great Britain & Northern Ireland, the European Association for Cardiothoracic Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery Network, USA.

 

 

 

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