NYARUGENGE - A call to set up measures to save people suffering from heart diseases topped the agenda of the twelfth annual Rwanda Medical Association (RMA) conference last Thursday.

Several health professionals from within and outside Rwanda met at Kigali Serena Hotel to draw an effective working strategy amongst health institutions.

The talks, held under the theme: ‘The emerging pandemic of cardiovascular diseases, a burden to the developing world’, set the spotlight on the future fight against heart diseases.

Medical practitioners through their umbrella RMA plotted a joint future plan to treat heart diseases with particular focus on early prevention.

The president of the Rwanda Heart Foundation, Dr. Joseph Mucumbitsi, said the event brings together all health experts to seek how they can jointly overcome their professional problems.

"We are looking at how we can link up our expertise to save the lives of people suffering from heart diseases,” he said.

"We are looking at the wider issue of how to prevent people from such pandemics rather than concentrating on curing means for those already ill,” Mucumbitsi added.

As part of the awareness programme, the Senate President, Dr. Vincent Biruta, who was Guest of Honour, pointed out that any country’s development relies on a healthy society.

The three-day conference aimed at identifying risk factors and population trends in heart diseases associated with conditions of obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes, and other risk factors.

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