Romania tops the list of European states in terms of number of deaths caused by heart diseases in both women and men. And it comes the last in terms of the use of the most efficient treatment, coronary angioplasty. According to Professor Dragos Vinereanu, a president of the Cardiology Clinic in the Bucharest University Hospital, this is due to the poor financial resources for health, that is 600 Euro per person, and also to the small number of doctors: 1,4-2,8 for 1,000 Romanians. Heart attack is the most frequent heart trouble causing Romanians to die. Specialist says in 2006 there were shocking figures: 31,000 heart attacks. (...) Professor Dragos Vinereanu explains that an infarct before the age of 35 used to be a rarity once, but it is not any more. Only last week the above-mentioned clinic faced heart attacks with persons aged 16, 24 and 25. Coronary angioplasty, the most efficient treatment, is underused in Romania first of all because of the insufficient funds set from the National Health Insurance Authority: 20 million ROL per person, as compared to 2,000 Euro per person in the EU states. And there is also the fact that only 40 Romanian cardiologists are trained for this medical procedure, as compared to 500 in Poland or 600-700 in the Czech Republic. The Professor mentions: "The training for this type of procedure may take some 3-5 more years after graduation." (C.P.)