
The Internal Medicine Department of the University of Basrah - College of medicine, held a workshop on pulmonary hypertension at the Oil Hospital for Cardiac Diseases and Surgery, hosting the visiting professor Dr. Dhir Al-Baaj, a cardiology consultant in Case-Western University, USA. The latest developments in the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary hypertension were discussed in the presence of cardiologists, internal medicine doctors, Postgraduate students, and students of the Iraqi Board of Cardiology and Internal Medicine. The workshop aims to raise awareness of the importance of early diagnosis of this disease to allow for proper treatment before complications worsen, as well as raising awareness of modern medications and treatment methods for this disease.
The workshop recommended the necessity of providing modern drugs, that reduce deaths from this disease, by the Basrah Health Directorate for the purpose of giving them to eligible patients, as these medications are expensive and not currently available in local pharmacies, in addition to the necessity of holding seminars and workshops on this disease to educate medical staff on its diagnosis and application of modern treatment methods. The workshop also recommended the requesting for opening Advisory Clinics for pulmonary hypertension from the Basrah Health Directorate, in order to register patients, follow-up them, and provide treatments to patients according to protocols agreed upon by the Advisory Committee for Cardiac Diseases and Internal Medicine.