Syria celebrates World Heart Day

Syria, along with more than 100 countries, celebrates World Heart Day on 29 September of every year, with the aim of raising awareness of the risk factors of heart disease and stroke, for cardiovascular diseases are the world's largest killers, claiming 17.3 million lives a year. Syria has allocated special lectures at all health centers throughout the country for today on cardiovascular diseases and means of reducing the factors causing them. Ministry of Health has paid great attention to heart patients through opening specialized centers for treating heart diseases and increasing the number of beds at the hospitals; 190 beds in al-Bassel Center in Dummar, Damascus, 116 beds at al-Bassel Center in Aleppo and 60 beds at Lattakia Cardiac Surgery Center which will be inaugurated before the end of the current year. Minister of Health Weal al-Halqi, said that in the next five-year plan the Ministry will open a cardiac surgery center in Deir-Ezzour with a capacity of 169 beds and another center in al-Rastan in Homs Province, clarifying that the centers will cover 60% of Syria's heart patients' needs. World Heart Day is organized by World Heart Federation which is an NGO comprising 200 members from 100 countries and it works on combating heart diseases and concentrates on low-income communities.