Doctor with Benevolent Heart

Cardiologist Dr Chan Ngai-yin works in Princess Margaret Hospital. His devotion in cardiac rehabilitation can be backdated to 2002, in a follow-up consultation with a patient just had a pacemaker implanted. Having mistaken that one with a pacemaker could not use electrical appliances, he dared not get food from refrigerator, nor reheat with microwave, leaving him always hungry. Dr Chan thus recognized that lacking rehabilitation knowledge could severely undermine the recovery and living quality of a heart patient. Furthermore, he found a lack of awareness of cardiac rehabilitation among healthcare professionals. He thus took his first steps into his humanitarian journey." Only if we enhance patients' knowledge about the disease and rehabilitation, and arouse healthcare personnel's awareness, can we really help our patients."

 

 

Caring for the Public

In 2003, Dr Chan set up Hong Kong Pacemaker Recipients Group for patients having implanted pacemaker or cardioverter-defibrillator and their families to help them cope with rehabilitation. He hosted talks and workshops on rehabilitation, and organized sharings among patients. Impacted by his deeds, some healthcare profession also joined the Group.

 

Dr Chan believes that heart disease affects not only an individual's health, but also the living quality of a patient's whole family, as taking care of a patient for long can be very demanding. He therefore launched various screening and prevention schemes to help both heart patients and their families. In 2010, in collaboration with Care For Your Heart, Hong Kong H.E.A.R.T. Club and Hong Kong Society of Rehabilitation - Community Rehabilitation Network, he convened the "Heart Healthy Train" scheme. Under the scheme, healthcare volunteers conducted large-scale community activities including free cardiac screening for the general public every year.

People with atrial fibrillation, often with no obvious symptom, are more at risk of having stroke. Dr Chan thus started, in 2014, the "trial Fibrillation Community ECG Screening Program". A total of 10,000 people received quick screening by handy equipment for early detection and intervention of the condition. Analysis and publication of the findings also provided medical professionals with better knowledge of the situation for improving treatment strategies.

Dr Chan now co-chairs the Executive Committee of Asian Preventive Cardiology and Cardiac Rehabilitation Conference, which aims at enhancing the skills and knowledge of medical staff in treating heart diseases. He has the aspiration to raise the cardiac rehabilitation knowledge of his mainland counterparts through exchanges at workshops and seminars.