Amman, March 10 (Petra) -- Minister of Health Ibrahim Bdour said Ministry of Health hospitals carried out 182 urgent cardiac catheterization procedures last month for patients suffering acute myocardial infarctions, under the national protocol for catheterization-based treatment of heart attacks launched at the beginning of February.

Bdour said the procedures were conducted as part of the ministry’s measures to activate emergency cardiac catheterization services between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. the following day, aimed at accelerating treatment for critical cases and improving patients’ survival rates.

He added that the procedures were distributed across several ministry hospitals, with al-Bashir Hospital performing 48 cases, Prince Hamza Hospital 44, Zarqa Governmental Hospital 40, Al Hussein Salt New Hospital 21, Princess Basma and King Abdullah University Hospitals 17, and Karak and Tafila Governmental Hospitals 12.

Bdour noted that these figures exclude emergency and routine catheterization procedures conducted during morning working hours. He added that hospitals equipped with cardiac catheterization laboratories have been reinforced with specialized on-call medical and technical teams operating around the clock, seven days a week, to ensure rapid response to life-threatening cases.

The minister also said the ministry has connected its hospitals without catheterization capabilities to specialized facilities through a referral mechanism that enables the direct transfer of heart attack patients to centers capable of performing urgent interventions.

Bdour stressed that adherence to internationally recognized treatment protocols contributes to faster clinical response for critical cases and enhances the quality of medical care provided to patients.

He added that implementing the heart attack treatment protocol forms part of the ministry’s broader plan to improve healthcare quality, standardize clinical pathways for critical conditions, adopt globally approved treatment practices, and reduce complications while increasing survival rates.

//Petra// AJ