Tackling the West's biggest killer

DR MARK De Costa is a heart surgeon by choice - but a spokesperson by necessity. In the past few weeks, this highly specialised consultant has been leaving the theatre after a day’s work to undertake his own public relations circuit in a bid to inform the public that heart surgery is now provided at University Hospital Galway.Since being appointed to his post at the hospital in October 2006, Dr De Costa has been striving to help develop what is the first cardiac surgery unit in this part of the country. But it has been an ongoing struggle for the Singapore-born heart and lung surgeon. Chief amongst his problems has been an ongoing battle with the Health Service Executive over staffing levels and the need for more beds in the unit. But another surprising obstacle has been encountered in informing the people of the west of the new surgical facility.Heart disease is on the rise in Ireland - this year, it will kill more people across the country than any other single illness. The problem is massive, but in spite of this, Dr De Costa and his fellow heart surgeon Dave Verissingham are not seeing the volume of patients they would have expected in a population that is known to be in the high risk category for developing heart disease.“In high-risk populations, you should be seeing about a thousand open-heart cases per year per million population, and in the west of Ireland we are certainly not seeing anything close to that,” Dr De Costa said in an interview with The Connacht Tribune.Dr De Costa believes there is still a .............................