<B>By Raj JUGERNAUTH</B>

We should give the devil his due and hail the courage of the minister of Health, Satish Faugoo, who has asked the chairman of the Cardiac Centre, Siv Pottaya, to go to... the devil. Now, a second bold step awaits the minister. The choice of a new chairman.

In the present condition, any mistake in the choice of the person can be lethal to that centre.

In fact, the Cardiac Centre, under the control of the Trust Fund for Specialised Medical Care, is at a crossroads. It is being offered a unique opportunity to develop into a jewel, a top-notch cardiac and neurosurgical centre in the Indian Ocean.

Professor Kalangos and his humanitarian organisation Coeur pour Tous have publicly promised not only to help in the development of the centre, but also to take patients from Seychelles, Comoros and Madagascar for open heart surgery and angioplasty in the centre.

All the operations would be paid by Coeur Pour Tous.

Professor Kalangos and his team, which comprises also cardiac surgeons from the United States, are prepared to send around 1,500 patients for surgery and angioplasty to the cardiac centre.

Such opportunities do not come everyday to medical centres. The Mauritian government has a unique chance, not only of giving Mauritians top quality high-tech cardiac medical care, but also the chance of making this centre self-sufficient.

But, to reach that goal, we need not only training of the personnel ? which is being carried out free by the team of professor Kalangos ? but also a new centre of around 200 beds to cater for those 1,500 operations.

The centre is carrying out 500 operations per year on Mauritians and the waiting list there has been reduced to around two months. According to the executive director, Rs 200 million would be needed for this new centre.

Then, of course, there is the equipment. The two heart lung machines of the centre are 25 years old.

These machines should be replaced every 10 years.

Successive Health ministers have forgotten to replace the equipment of the centre, to such an extent that Professor Renat Acturine once said he was interested in buying all the equipment to create a cardiac museum in Moscow. Even the scissors used for precision cutting at this centre no longer cut and Professor Acturine who comes here to operate free of charge usually brings along his scissors.

It?s a pity and a shame.

All this boils down to one thing. The Health minister should pay particular attention to the cardiac centre.

It might be the only shining jewel he will have to show as his achievement.

So the next chairman should be chosen carefully, for this person would have the mission of developing a new cardiac centre and put an end once and for all to the situation that has greatly jeopardised the centre.This culture of backbiting, bickering and anonymous letters has done a lot of harm and deprived the centre of the voluntary help of professor Kalangos for two years. He is back and his team is now waiting to see if the government is serious about operating patients, especially children, from the region. In this context, let's call a dog a dog and say that the Malagasy authorities have shown great interest in having such a centre built in their country.

It is also clear that some vested interests are out to gun down the cardiac centre. So the minister would be well advised to choose a top gun for the cardiac centre.