About
Pan-African Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (PASCaTS)
Pan-African Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery (PASCaTS) is an international non-profit NGO with its headquarter in Berlin and office in Accra supported by clinical and scientific advisory board of experts: Charles Yankah, President, Willie Koen, Vice-President, Carlos Mestres, Vice-President, Francis Smit, Secretary General, Jonathan Nwiloh and Darshan Reddy, Emily Farkas, Board Members. PASCaTS’ task force leads for interventional and surgical cardiovascular missions: Charles Yankah, Andreas Kaestner, Axel Unbehaun, Philipp Krueger. Mustafa Yigitbasi
Our mission is to support the local teams to develop cardiothoracic and vascular surgical care in Africa through clinical service, mentorship, capacity building (basics and training the trainers), continuing education, research, advocacy and networking. It is funded by educational grants from corporations and private donations from individuals.
Since its founding in 2011 PASCaTS has been a unifying sources for information and capacity building regarding the fields of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery.
PASCaTS’s Achievements
Since its founding in 2011 over the last few years, the task force of PASCaTS has achieved significant milestones, including having established :
1. Training Centre for Echocardiography at Cape Coast Teaching Hospital in Ghana with 13 physicians including two Nigerians and four senior clinical nurses
2. Cardiac Surgery Simulation Centres in Accra, Ghana, West Africa, Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa and Bliday, Algeria in North Africa., Interventional Pediatric Cardiology Program in Accra, Ghana,
3. External cardiology training courses for fellows in adult and pediatric cardiology at the German Heart Center Charite Berlin and Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden in The Netherlands and Pediatric cardiac Surgery Intensive Care Course at the Korle Bu Teaching Hopsital, Accra, Ghana.
4, PASCaTS capacity building program supported the Cardiology Fellowship programs of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and become part of the National Fellowship Program, running two-three echocardiology courses a year which enabled PASCaTS’ first six Fellows to write examinations in cardiology and qualified as Board Certified Cardiologists by Ghana/West African College of Physicians in 2022 and 2023.
PASCaTS: www.pascats.com, EACTS: www.eacts.org, STS: www.sts.org, DHZC: www.dhzc.charite.de