I’m very pleased to reveal that the Red Cross Children’s Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, has launched an exciting new initiative called CATHCHAT.  CATHCHAT will allow cardiologists from across Africa and beyond to learn and teach paediatric interventional cardiac catheterisation live on the RealPresence® Platform including Polycom® RealPresence® Web Suite and

Polycom® RealPresence® Media Suite.

Cardiac catheterisation, also known as heart cath, is the insertion of a catheter into a chamber or vessel of the heart[1]. In the case of Red Cross Children’s Hospital, the procedure, whether it is for diagnostic or interventional purposes, is helping save lives of children that have heart defects.

The hospital will now extend their learning sessions to the cardiologists and surgeons across Africa and the rest of the world. The participants who join the live event will be able to interact with the surgeon and contribute by posting questions, comments and suggestions during the broadcast.

The event will take place from 15^th to 18^th March 2016 and will witness a series of interventional cardiac catheterisation cases ranging from routine to complex. Dr Oliver Stumper from Birmingham Children’s Hospital, UK, will share his expertise during CATHCHAT.

The Red Cross Children’s Hospital has been a customer of Polycom and Kathea for many years.  I’m very privileged to have seen the project from the early days to these exciting developments.  Because of the advancement of the RealPresence Group Series and the RealPresence Platform, the hospital can now realise its vision of taking life saving techniques to poorer parts of Africa.  This is true collaboration that defies distance and saves lives.

Because of the nature of the live procedures and to respect patient confidentiality, CATHCHAT is an invitation only session designed for medical professionals involved in paediatric cardiology, but interested partners and the general public can follow the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #CATHCHAT

[1] Source: NHS England