Words from the President, April 2024

08 May 2024

April marked an important month for the implementation stroke program in Asia.

The Stroke Expert Forum on April 24th in Bali, was organized by the National Brain Center Jakarta (Kemenkes RSPON Mahar Mardjono) in collaboration with Medtronic. This event was a huge success. The meeting brought healthcare managers from the Indonesian Ministry of Health together with leaders from all stroke-related scientific societies, covering prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation. The meeting featured the expertise of Professor of Neurosurgery Michael Kelly (Provincial Department Head and Fred H. Wigmore Professor of Surgery, University of Saskatchewan) in the organization of stroke systems of care. Representing World Stroke Organization, I talked about exploring key intervention opportunities in each phase of the patient journey. Professor Kelly and I moderated discussions with the Ministry of Health on the advanced implementation of the stroke program in Indonesia for a comprehensive care chain. This includes the establishment of 3-level stroke centers distributed across a country, which includes 17,000 islands. Congratulations on the great work and excellent national stroke plan created by the Ministry of Health with the technical leadership of Dr Reza Arpandi.

We also had the opportunity to participate in the Bali Interventional Neurovascular Conference (BLINC) organized by Dr. Affan Priyambodo. This was the first neurointerventional meeting in the region with several world renowned neurointerventionalists. In an important session to discuss public policies, moderated by Dr. Affan Priyambodo and Dr. Reza Arpandi, Angelique Balguid from Phillips delved into the topic of access to stroke care and its health economic implications. Meanwhile, I shared insights on our experience of implementing stroke care strategies in Brazil and proposed collaborative approaches to enhance stroke systems of care on a global scale. The session concluded with an impressive video featuring Indonesia's Minister of Health, Mr. Budi Gunadi Sadikin, discussing the country's plan to significantly enhance the stroke care system by expanding secondary and tertiary stroke services from the current 16 provinces to 38 provinces by 2027.

Another significant action in April was the commencement of WSO's Certification Visits for Stroke Centers in ASEAN Countries (Association of Southeast Asian Nations). We visited a center in Jakarta, the RSPON National Brain Center, which leads the national stroke program and serves as the model for the country, and the RSUP Ngoerah in Bali. Thanks to Dr Reza Arpandi, Ita Muharan Sari, Affan Priyambodo and Angga Krishna for the warm welcome, the excellent work, and the meticulous preparation for the visits. In Malaysia, where certification is organized by the Malaysia Stroke Council, the visits were to the National University of Malaysia (Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz) in Kuala Lumpur and Universiti Putra Malaysia (Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah) in Serdang. Special thanks to Wan Asyraf Wan Zaidi for the support in organizing the visits and thanks for the tremendous support from the Malaysia Stroke Council, under the leadership of President Assoc. Prof Hoo Fan Kee, who mobilized delegates from various regions for the WSO Certification. Gratitude also goes to the local evaluators Dr. Law Wan Chung, Dr. Irene Looi, Assoc. Prof Dr. Wan Nur Nafisah, and a special mention to our WSO Future Stroke Leaders Dr. Wan Asyraf, Dr. Abdul Hanif Khan, and Assoc. Prof Dr. Law Zhe Kang. Many thanks also to Prof. Deidre de Silva, who is leading the certification in this region on behalf of WSO.

Congratulations to the hospital teams for their hard work and dedication in improving the quality of stroke care. These motivated and highly skilled teams are committed to changing stroke care in their countries and expanding the certification program.