Introduction:

Approximately 33% of patients with cardiovascular diseases will require heart surgery at least once in their lifetime; yet, less than a quarter of the world’s population has access to cardiac surgical care when needed. Despite Colombia’s progress in cardiac surgical care delivery in recent decades, little is known regarding access to cardiac care across the country. Therefore, global surgery seeks to study and build upon the current situation in areas of limited access to surgical healthcare and to strengthen health systems.

Objetive:

Describe the current situation in Colombia in terms of surgical personnel and available infrastructure, to better understand the existing gaps in access to cardiac surgical care for populations in need.

Materials and method:

Data on the cardiac surgical workforce were obtained from a survey of surgeons registered in the cardiac surgery directory and the Cardiothoracic Surgery Network in Colombia. Procedural data from 2018-2019 were obtained from national government data.

Results:

There were 110 cardiac surgeons or 1.8 cardiac surgeons per million inhabitants in Colombia, of which 85.0% were male. Densities in each of the 32 departments of Colombia varied from 4.6 surgeons per million inhabitants (Bogotá) to no surgeons in 14 departments. There were 52 institutions registered, with a median of 250 beds (interquartile range 130-350). One in five cardiac surgery departments offered a certified cardiac surgery fellowship program. Coronary artery bypass grafting was the most frequently performed procedure.

Conclusions:

This study identified data regarding the current situation of cardiac surgery in Colombia. Despite relatively favorable cardiac surgical workforce availability in Colombia, geographical variation and social and economic factors point to an urgent need to evaluate the quality-of-care policies related to cardiac surgical care in underserved populations.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )