The three clinical advantages of the Mandaya Royal Hospital Children's Heart Center will expand access to heart care in Indonesia

The Heart Center is projected to be able to contribute significantly to the management of congestive heart disease in children which reaches 12,000 cases annually.

The incidence of heart disease in children in Indonesia is quite disturbing. Data from the Ministry of Health show that every year, around 12,000 babies suffer from congestive heart disease, a condition where the heart is unable to optimally pump blood around the body.

What’s more alarming is that only half of these cases receive treatment, leaving the other 6,000 untreated and at much greater risk of death.

Knowing this health concern far too well, the Mandaya Royal Hospital Puri in West Jakarta invested in the necessary infrastructure and resources to build an adequate Pediatric Heart Centre that opened in May this year.

This is a significant development in addressing the problem since there are only 40 hospitals with Cath Labs that provide cardiac catheterization services in the country. Only 10 of these hospitals are capable of performing open-heart surgery.

“We realised the importance of treating heart disease in children and are committed to establishing a children’s heart centre as our priority this year,” dr. Ben Widaja, president director of Mandaya Royal Hospital, said in an interview with Healthcare Asia.

Widaja said the Children’s Heart Centre is equipped with modern facilities, state-of-the-art medical equipment, and a team of pediatric cardiologists who are experienced in treating heart disease in very young patients.

3 clinical advantages

In establishing the Mandaya Royal Hospital Children’s Heart Centre, Ben said they made sure it had three clinical advantages. The first is that the health facility has a complete medical team, meaning no action requires outside referrals.

The medical team consists of pediatric cardiologists with specialitisations as interventional pediatric cardiac consultants, pediatric cardiac mapping experts, cardiac anesthesia consultants, and pediatric cardiac surgeons. The team also includes pediatric cardiology nurses and other medical personnel who have extensive expertise and experience in the treatment of heart disease in children.

“The Mandaya Pediatric Cardiologist team consists of senior doctors, one of whom is the most senior pediatric cardiologist in Indonesia, Dr. Anna Ulfah Rahayoe, Sp.JP (K). Together with a team of other pediatric cardiologists, Dr. Anna leads the service standards for pediatric and congenital heart disease in Mandaya,” Ben said.

The second clinical advantage at the Centre’s is its integrated and multidisciplinary approach. “We apply an integrated and multidisciplinary approach in the management of pediatric heart disease. Our medical teams work together collaboratively to plan and carry out integrated care, including diagnosis, intervention and long-term care,” he said.

Thirdly, the Heart Centre is equipped with the latest medical facilities and technology, including the newest Cath Lab room to optimise interventional procedures for babies with congenital heart disease such as heart leaks (ASD/VSD), with the support of Intravascular USG, NICU for newborns, and an Operating Room.

Cardiac Surgery, Cardiac MRI, Cardiac Spectral CT-Scan, 3D Echocardiography as well as Medical Rehabilitation and Hydropool Therapy facilities for postoperative care and medical rehabilitation for the heart to ensure optimal recovery are also available at this centre.

This combination of a team of doctors and sophisticated equipment has made the Mandaya Royal Hospital more than just a formidable institution for treating congenital heart diseases such as perforated heart (ASD), heart valve disorders, heart failure, and tetralogy fallot defects (TOF).

The investment in this children’s heart centre is quite a large sum. “For supporting equipment such as Cath Lab Azurion 7, Heart Lung Machine, it reaches IDR30 billion ($1,98m),” he said.

But the investment does not end there. To keep up with technological developments for this facility, he said the hospital collaborates in the development of handling difficult cases and exchanges case studies to enrich the knowledge of the Mandaya pediatric cardiologist team.

“We collaborate with various international health institutions such as the Cleveland Clinic from the USA and the Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital from the UK,” Ben stressed, noting that the two international hospitals are highly specialised in the field of heart care.

Centre of excellence

Mandaya Royal Hospital has two hospitals, namely Mandaya Royal Hospital Puri in West Jakarta and Mandaya Hospital in Karawang, West Java.

“In the future we will have another hospital built, namely Mandaya Royal Hospital Antasari in South Jakarta,” said Ben.

To enhance its reputation, Mandaya Royal Hospital has established various centers of excellence. Apart from establishing the Heart Center for Children and Adults, Mandaya Royal Hospital Puri also established the Center for Neuroscience & Surgery, and the Center for Advanced Cancer & Radiotherapy. This hospital also has a vision to treat chronic and terminal diseases such as cancer.

He told Healthcare Asia that as of now, they envision being the leader in treating chronic and terminal diseases such as cancer.

“We provide all the needs of advanced technology such as radiotherapy with the highest level, namely Elekta Versa HD Radiosurgery, Brachytherapy Flexitron, Digital PET Scan Omni Legend, [and] Nuclear Medicine with SPECT-CT, which is supported by a senior oncology team, namely Prof. Dr. Aru W. Sudoyo, Prof. Dr. Toar JM Lalisang, and Dr. Eko Purnomo,” Ben said.

He emphasised that Mandaya is also concerned about the support facilities needed for cancer patients such as pain clinics for pain control, home care services, housing facilities within the hospital to a patient community that is ready to provide psychological and emotional support, as well as direct support from cancer survivors.

“This is what makes our cancer services very different, because we think about both the medical aspect, sophistication, safety, and comfort for patients and their families,” he said.

With clinical excellence ingrained in Mandaya Royal Hospital’s core values, it continues to strive to provide the best health services in the country.