• Liaise with yourself and your doctors
  
• Select a top available South African Cardiac Specialist for you
  
• Organise and Arrange every aspect of your treatment and travel
  
• Ensure you receive the best possible price
  
• Ensure that you receive the fastest possible care
  
• Assign a staff member to accompany you to all medical appointments
  
• Liaise with your family and friends throughout your stay
  
• Follow up with you long after you return home

Arriving in Cape Town South Africa:

• Expedited Customs and Immigration Clearances for wheelchair and immobile patients
  
• A Surgery Abroad representative to meet the patient at the airport and facilitate transfer to accommodation or Hospital

• Doctors and Nurses are ALL English Speaking
  
• All Hospitals are certified to internationally chartered standards, with advanced surgical/critical care facilities and highly qualified physicians and specialists of all medical disciplines
  
• All Hospitals ensure the highest standards of patient care at times
  
• Surgery abroad
  
• All Specialists and Hospitals have the minimum required level of Professional Indemnity insurance cover as required by Law.

• A daily visit from a Mediscapes assistance staff member, who will also liaise with the medical staff of the hospital
  
• A 24 hour 7 day a week Assistance Helpline with qualified staff on hand to answer patient emergencies
  
• A complete travel package for any accompanying relatives or friends to be arranged if required
  
• A daily English Language newspaper during hospital stay
  
• Satellite TV and Radio with English networks

• Transfer to a quality Inn located near to the hospital for further rehabilitation, if required, before returning to the UK
  
• Any special facilities required when the patient is returning to the UK to be arranged by a Mediscapes assistance team member, including:
  • travel assistance with nurse or doctor in attendance
    
  • wheelchair assistance + extra seating on airline
    
  • air ambulance + assistance on arrival in UK and transportation home
• Sufficient supply of drugs/medications for 7 days, a letter for the patient¹s G.P/ Specialist and detailed case notes for the referring hospital/Specialist

The following procedures are offered to you in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases:

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• Catheter Ablation
  This procedure uses radio waves or freezing to silence an abnormal area in the heart's electrical system, which is usually found during an electrophysiology study.
  
  
• Permanent Pacemaker
  A permanent pacemaker is inserted into the patient's heart and upper chest to provide a reliable heartbeat when the heart's own rhythm is too fast, too slow, or irregular. A permanent pacemaker is usually inserted while the patient is in the electrophysiology lab.
  
  
• Internal Cardioverter Defibrillator
  A defibrillator is inserted into the patient's heart and chest to send out a small amount of electricity when needed to jolt heart rhythm back to normal.

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• Transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) refers to angioplasty in the coronary arteries to permit more blood flow into the heart. There are several types of PTCA procedures, including the following:
  
  
  • balloon angioplasty - a small balloon is inflated inside the blocked artery to open the blocked area.
    · atherectomy - the blocked area inside the artery is "shaved" away by a tiny device on the end of a catheter.
    
  • laser angioplasty - a laser is used to "vaporize" the blockage in the artery.
    
  • coronary artery stent - a tiny coil is expanded inside the blocked artery to open the blocked area and is left in place to keep the artery open.
    
    
• Coronary Artery Bypass
  A surgical procedure in which small portions of veins or arteries are taken from one part of the body and transplanted into the heart to bypass clogged coronary arteries of the heart.
  
  
• Single Bypass, Double Bypass, Triple Bypass, Quadruple Bypass

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• Valvuloplasty
  A procedure in which a catheter with a large balloon is used to open a heart valve that has become narrowed usually as the result of scarring. The catheter is guided through the aorta to the valve, and once in place within the leaflets, the balloon is inflated until the leaflets are loosened. The balloon is then deflated and withdrawn from the body.
  
  
• Valve Repair
  A surgical procedure in which a damaged valve is repaired by loosening stiff valve leaflets or tightening loose valve leaflets.
  
  
• Valve Replacement
  In this surgical procedure, a mechanical or tissue valve is transplanted into the heart to replace the damaged valve.

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