Private Hospital with Valuable Legacy
We are Todung Silalahi and Hardjo Prawira from CIKINI Hospital (Rumah Sakit Cikini) in Jakarta, Indonesia. Our hospital is the oldest private medical center founded in 1898 and holds the tradition and history of the country. We are particularly specialized in kidney diseases, organ transplantation and diabetes treatment. As the number of patients in the Department of Cardiology soars, we are planning to have more interventional cardiologists and new cardiological cath labs and establish a cardiovascular team.
It started back in 2009…
I’ve been participating in the Lee Jong-Wook Fellowship Program of the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH) from June 15. We have a special history of bonding with the SNUH. The nephrology and hemato-oncology teams in our hospital visited here to learn its practices in 2009 and 2010. Especially, the SNUH played a big role in making us see a big progress in the nephrology department.
There are six cardiologists in our cardiology department, but only one of them is interventional cardiologist. We need more interventional cardiologists to make sure a right and accurate diagnosis and treatment.
That is why we are here. The team we are planning to set up would heavily depend on how much we learn here.
Dreaming the SNUH Cardiac Catheterization Lab…
Our days start and end in the cardiac catheterization lab. In fact, the room here in the SNUH is a perfect version of it. It has arrays of advanced equipments, and the highly qualified medical team provides their patients with the best medical services. It is also fitted with the digital integration medical system. We are observing the whole process from diagnosis to treatment.
The interventional cardiovascular surgery is a critical part in treating patients with cardiovascular diseases like angina, myocardial infarction and arrhythmia. Recently, many of these diseases are successfully treated without surgical procedures.
Korea is among the countries that practice the most advanced percutaneous cardiovascular intervention. I have read papers by professors Hyo-su Kim, Bon-kwun Gu and Gyung-woo Park in the Journal of American College of Cardiology - the official journal of the American College of Cardiology as well as the most prestigious one in this field. This shows that Korea and the SNUH are in leading positions in the interventional cardiovascular surgery.
In the cardiac catheterization lab in the SNUH, advanced technology-assisted diagnosis and treatments are performed, including IVUS (use a miniaturized ultrasound probe to identify the severity of the altherom in the coronary artery), FFR (for accurate diagnosis of the stenosis in the coronary artery), QCA (Quantitative Coronary Angiography), CRT-D (Implanted Cardiac Resynchronization Device), PPP (Pacemaker). These are also the reasons why we are here. Our hospital does only angiography today, largely because there are no specialists in IVUS, PPP, etc. We want to save patients in our country and improve their quality of lives by applying these latest technologies. It is lucky that we have met good advisors like professors Gu and Park. They know exactly what we would like to know, and sometimes give the answers before we ask. I am certain that we will help improve our hospital when we get back.
My Favorite Menu – Kimchi
Here is what I do all the time whenever I go to a Korean restaurant: Say “Kimchi Please”. Kimchi is very spicy but tasty as well. It is good for health, too.
When the SARS hit Indonesia in the past, I read this article that Kimchi could prevent this disease. Unfortunately, Korean foods, including Kimchi, are available mostly in upscale restaurants in my country.
What can I say! I’m a Kimchi fan.