Focus on... National Heart Centre, Singapore

The National Heart Centre (NHC) Singapore is directed by A/Prof Koh Tian Hai, Medical Director and employs over 700 employees, of which, over 50 are medical specialists and about half are nursing staff.

NHC sees more than 90,000 outpatients, performs over 75,000 cardiac investigative procedures, more than 2500 interventional procedures, 2000 surgical procedures and has over 8,000 inpatients annually. Some of the most common procedures done at NHC include electrophysiological study (EPSS) and catheter ablation, cardiac catheterisation/coronary angiography, percutaneous coronary interventions (angioplasty and stenting), pacemaker and implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) implantation, coronary artery bypass graft surgeries, and heart valve repair and replacement surgeries.

The NHC Clinical Trial Unit, first set up in 1999, has conducted some 50 trials involving novel drugs, devices and treatment strategies, as well as observational registry studies. Over the past 10 years, NHC's reputation as a premier cardiac facility has helped the centre attracted many cardiac device and pharmaceutical companies, with a funding of around $30 million from external funding agencies. NHC has taken part in major trials like the PREVENT, TAXUS II and STITCH trials, to name a few.

One of the most significant research projects at NHC is the development of a process to transform adult stem cells to cardiac-like cells for 'self-repair' of the failing heart. This NHC-patented technique is expected to go into human trial in the next few years.

NHC is the national specialty centre for heart disease in Singapore, and is a JCI accredited hospital since 2005. The centre has 185 beds dedicated to treating cardiac cases. As the referral center for cardiovascular disease in Singapore and the region, NHC has achieved many milestones in 'firsts' locally and regionally. These include the first bare metal and sirolimus drug eluting stent implants in Asia, and the first percutaneous transfemoral and transapical aortic valve replacement therapy in Asia.

These milestones and the excellent clinical outcomes are testaments of NHC's medical excellence. The centre is also very active in the training of Asian cardiologists in the interventional and noninvasive subspecialities, as well as cardiac surgeons.