CORONARY CARE UNIT

The first CCU in the world was established in the USA in 1961. The concept of CCU was not well-known at the time the department started its modern CCU in 1979 with a central station, ECG and hemodynamic monitoring around the clock. The CCU in Qatar was a showcase in the Middle East.

Today, the department has state-of-the-art technology in its CCU for monitoring, diagnosis and therapy. Two cardiologists are on duty in the unit 24 hours daily with a consultant cardiologist on call who could reach the unit within five minutes. Since 1982, all patient data are logged in the computer daily. These data are used for the evaluation of CCU performance, research and publications.

The unit has an overall 10% mortality from myocardial infarction and only 3% mortality with the use of thrombolytic therapy. Thus, the department has one of the lowest death rates due to heart attacks in the world.