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CASSA has been active in educating doctors, nurses and
technologists during 2004. A series of articles by CASSA
members on arrhythmia's has appeared in the South African
Medical Association’s CME journal, sponsored by Johnson
and Johnson. These will also be published in CASSA's newsletter.
Workshops for cardiac technologists on pacemakers
were held in Cape Town in March and Durban in May. These were
well received. A workshop on diagnosis and treatment of
arrhythmias was held at the Nkosi Albert Luthuli Hospital
in Durban on the eighth of May, with presentations by Dr Okreglicki
and me from Cape Town, and Dr Obel from Johannesburg. Two
workshops on arrhythmias will be held on 27 November in Cape
Town, one for GP's, anaesthetists and emergency unit personnel,
and the other for physicians and cardiologists.
Dr Obel represented CASSA on the organising committee of
this SA Heart Congress. CASSA is involved in 4 of the sessions.
The SA Heart Congress 2005 will be organised by CASSA as
a Special Interest Group of SA Heart.
A number of ongoing projects are being sponsored by CASSA,
notably collection of data regarding sudden death in South
Africa by Dr Obel, in conjunction with Netcare 911, and a
South African registry of patients with arrhythmogenic right
ventricular cardiomyopathy by Professor Mayosi and his group.
Other issues being addressed by CASSA include peer review,
billing for EP procedures and availability of drugs required
for arrhythmia investigation, including isoprenaline and intravenous
beta-blockers.
I would like to thank the Executive
Committee of CASSA for their support and hard work.
Prof Rob Scott Millar
President, CASSA
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