About 3,000 operations will be performed at the centre a year, said NHSO deputy-secretary Dr Winai Sawasdiworn.

The centre will improve access and cut travelling costs for patients, Winai said.

After surgery, patients will also receive a year of check-ups at the centre, which will also coordinate campaigns aimed at preventing heart disease, the country's leading health threat.

Heart patients generally have had to wait from six to 18 months to receive surgery, said Dr Chuchai Sornchumni, the director of NHSO's Bureau of Disease Management.

The length of time a patient waited depended on number and capacity of medical facilities in his or her region, he added.

Bangkok has always had long waiting lists for heart surgery, but the lists are getting longer and outstripping the increasing availability of advanced medical services.

Twenty per cent of those on the waiting lists are from the Northeast.

Chuchai said the centre should reduce the wait to between two and six months.

The four existing heart treatment centres in the region are also upgrading to accommodate a targeted 30-per-cent increase in heart operations, he said. Incentives are also being offered to medical personnel.

They range as high as Bt50,000 per month, of which Bt40,000 would go to the heart surgeon

and the rest to his or her surgical team.

"The quality of heart treatment at the four northeastern centres is certified by the accreditation body in Bangkok, meaning that patients receive equal treatment, just closer to home," he said.

The NHSO plans to establish advanced medical centres in other parts of the country and is considering applying the same management model to other high-cost and chronic diseases, such as cancer, said Winai.

Arthit Khwankhom

The Nation

Khon Kaen