Adane Petros

Cardiologist, Assistant Prof. and STEMI program Director @Addis Ababa University
Executive committee member, Ethiopian Society of Cardiac Professionals

[Tesfaye A. Telila MD, FACC,FSCAI. @TTelila]

Why We Paused Surgery—and Why That Is Part of Building the Future…

Building a sustainable cardiac program requires more than performing procedures—it requires building systems, solving challenges, and growing together.

As a new cardiac surgery center, MCM faced expected system and logistical challenges, and we paused surgeries for a day to strengthen the foundation. Meanwhile @HeartAEthiopia, #Mission5 continued across our partner sites, reaching 61 life-saving cardiac procedures and counting‼️

Deeply grateful to my good friend Dr. Bekele Alemayehu, founder of Gezund Hospital, for his swift support with TEE when it was needed most.

👉This is how lasting capacity is built: institutions supporting institutions, professionals lifting each other up, and a nation coming together to make advanced cardiac care accessible for all.

We do missions to end missions. ❤️🇪🇹

[Tesfaye A. Telila MD, FACC,FSCAI. @TTelila]

If we design solutions for the most vulnerable, we create systems that work for everyone. If we only build for those who can pay, we simply widen the gap.

The future of healthcare must start where the need is greatest. ❤️

This is why we don’t just believe in treating patients — we believe in building systems. Missions save lives, but sustainable institutions change generations.

The goal is not to build another hospital. The goal is to build an ecosystem where excellence, compassion, innovation, and access can coexist — where world-class care is not a privilege reserved for a few, but a possibility for all.

We do missions to end missions. 🌍❤️

@HeartAEthiopia

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Saturday photo of @TTelila and his ceo (@drmerid ) - three guesses who's doing all the work today - its not Tesfaye 😜😜😜

Obsi works tirelessly behind the scenes to make the mission a success

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

First Primary of the day and a story of delays.

Delayed presentation and admitted to another unit for stemi. Stayed there for a day and transferred urgently this morning. Was in pulmonary oedema. Remarkably anterior wall was still working and she had R waves on ECG

Primary PCI- @terumo_jp sheath, @BiosensorsLtd stents. Without the generous donations from our industry partners this woman would have been treated with bedrest.
Fantastic to work with a great Ethiopian team under difficult circumstances.

@HeartAEthiopia making real impact. @TTelila @drmerid @adane_petros8

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Third PCI of the day, sub totally occluded lad. The important part of these missions is to empower the local Cardiologists to gain more experience and lead the cases.
This case was expertly performed by @adane_petros8

@HeartAEthiopia @TTelila @drmerid

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Fourth PCI of the day. It's often really challenging working in environments without kit, this was a heavily calcified proximal LAD in a DM pt. No ivus / OCT and no Ca modification devices except cutting balloons.

Have to be pragmatic- my strategies are often very different to what I would do in the UK. This may be the only chance these pts ever get to go to a Cath Lab and no opportunity to assess medical management as most antianginals aren't available and the patient wouldn't be able to afford them anyway if they were.

Local physicians work under difficult circumstances and partnerships with @HeartAEthiopia and companies such as @BiosensorsLtd @terumo_jp @Cordis_emea @BrosMedMedical help deliver care to patients that they would never have access to otherwise @TTelila @drmerid

[Tesfaye A. Telila MD, FACC,FSCAI. @TTelila]

Day#2 of Mission #5 with our amazing team with @HeartAEthiopia

We are grateful to @mmamas1973 for continuing to push on not just how to take advantage of the missions but also how to sustain and scale advanced cardiovascular services in #Ethiopia and beyond.

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

One of the difficulties in working in a low resource settings such as Ethiopia is to provide good Primary/secondary prevention. Undertook a cath in a young (40s) nurse with chest pain / ccs. Angio showed non-obstructive disease.

LDL 190 on atorvastain 40mg!! I obviously increased to 80 mg but ezetimibe / bempedoic acid / pcsk9i not available- and patients can't afford to buy these on the black market.

Whilst we can provide PCI services what is the bigger challenge is cardiovascular Primary / secondary prevention @HeartAEthiopia @MekdesDaba @TTelila

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Here's a case we did today in a patient in their 50s with severely limiting angina and an ostial lad. No Ivus available.
Stented with a 3.0 stent back to lms and POT. I thought the pot was adequately sized but when I injected contrast whilst the balloon was inflated I could see contrast going into lad/cx showing there was significant malapossition in lms. Went up a balloon size and repeated pot with no contrast going down vessels. This is a good trick for those in resource poor environmentS.

I was very moved- the patient became quite tearful and was kissing my hand and wishing me a long life. Were it not for @HeartAEthiopia this gentleman would never have been able to afford treatment. Really highlights what we take for granted and how irrelevant the things that sometimes bother us are in our own units.

I Did 8 cases today- 3 PCI and 5 diagnostics across 2 different centres

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

To be honest if it wasn't for the support of @terumo_jp @BiosensorsLtd @cordis @BrosMedMedical who supported UK team / @HeartAEthiopia with generous amounts of free kit - none of this would have been possible. The stents, guides, introducer sheaths that we bought with us last year was still being used earlier this year to support the Primary PCI program at black lion hospital

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

The average healthcare spending in the USA is $14,775 per person annually, in uk it is $7000 per person annually.

In Ethiopia its $35.

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Thank you brother
Hats (and leads! 😜)off to you and @drmerid -what you have created is huge and has helped thousands of people and their relatives. This is your long lasting legacy

Proud to be a small part of it.

[Tesfaye A. Telila MD, FACC,FSCAI. @TTelila]

Thanks to my partner in crime @mmamas1973 😃

It gives me great pleasure to see you extending your helping hand to more centers across Ethiopia. Your dedication and commitment to building sustainable cardiovascular care continue to inspire‼️

@HeartAEthiopia

[Jimmittii Abbaajoobiir @abbajob1]

@HeartAEthiopia @TTelila @drmerid @mmamas1973 Thank you so much for your service and support you are giving to those who didn’t venue have the chance to survive @AdanechAbiebie @AbiyAhmedAli @ShimelisAbdisa @dereje_dugumaMD @MekdesDaba @CanadaEthiopia @USEmbassyAddis

[Anteneh ባሪያው @AntenehNima]

From 🇺🇸 to 🇪🇹 —saving lives completely voluntarily! 🩺✨ Massive respect and appreciation to Dr. @TTelila , his wife, @mmamas1973 and his amazing team. You are a massive blessing to our community! 🙌❤️ . 🙏#Grateful #HeartAttackEthiopia #Hero

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

The problems of having no national thrombolysis program for STEMI- patient presented with a 12 hour history of chest pain and was found to have tombstone ST elevation anteriorly. He was in a town 600 km away.

He took an 9 hour ambulance trip overnight for ppci at Black Lion Hospital

He still had chest pain so I performed PCI (21hrs post onset pain)
Suspect that the benefit will be small

Availability of thrombolysis would have completely changed this man's trajectory. ESC guidelines are if you cant deliver ppci with 120mins, thrombolysis better

We need to roll out STEMI care across the country with STEMI networks and thrombolysis.

@HeartAEthiopia @TTelila @drmerid case performed with @adane_petros8

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Just got back at the end of my first week in Ethiopia -. One more week to go

We did 40 cath cases this week at Black lion hospital, 16PCIs including several primaries.
This may not sound many, but they haven't been any cases there for at least three months.

We were often working 14 hour days but one of the great things was working with the Ethiopian physicians, who always smile and are so keen to learn, and looked after us so well. The Ethiopian patients were a joy to treat with smiles on their faces.

There's been many systems/ healthcare challenges, that I have outlined in my tweets this week. The lack of kit, frustrations with delays and lack of infrastructure. I'm hoping that our work here will build capacity for the future in Ethiopia.

@HeartAEthiopia and its founders @TTelila and @drmerid should be very proud of what they've achieved. Let's hope next week is as successful !

Now off for a drink with my partner in crime @TTelila as I'm absolutely shattered! 😜

[Mamas A. Mamas @mmamas1973]

Was called in to undertake a PPCI on a haemodynamically unstable anterior STEMI who was attending a government function at Black Lion Hospital supported by @adane_petros8 , @sinta_gf and the team.

The health minister of Ethiopia @MekdesDaba came and i had the pleasure in discussing delivery of STEMI care nationally, through hub and spoke models with nationally available thrombolysis / ppci services and innovative telemedicine models of care and sustainability. Was great to hear of plans for the future and progress since our last meeting.

Ethiopia very lucky to have an enlightened health minister of vision such as @MekdesDaba who also possesses impressive echo skills!

@HeartAEthiopia have made huge advances locally in cv care. Now we need to roll out nationally @TTelila @drmerid

[Adane Petros @adane_petros8]

@mmamas1973 @HeartAEthiopia There are a few who make a lasting impact in someone's life and career in a few encounters @mmamas1973 . Thank you very much Prof for all the mentorship and support.

[Adane Petros @adane_petros8]

@mmamas1973 @Hragy @DrMarthaGulati @iamritu @purviparwani @cardiojaydoc02 @hvanspall @flyethiopian @SeguraCardio @SVRaoMD @DFCapodanno Thank you very much Professor for your guidance and unwavering support.