Economic Times waves off the week long activity to spread awareness related to heart aliments

New Delhi, November 09, 2017: As India carries the burden of the highest number of cardiovascular diseases, The Economic Times hosted a conference that bought together the medical fraternity to discuss issues affecting the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of Cardiac disorders in India. The Economic Times World Heart Week was held today in Mumbai at The Leela.

During the conference, Deepak Ramchandra Sawant, Minister for Public Health and Family Welfare, congratulated The Economic Times for spreading awareness related to heart ailments and disorders. He also urged the cardiologists at the conference for an open discussion with the government and helping them address the situation. He added, “In a recent death audit for swine flu it was found 50 percent deaths were because of victims having hypertension and diabetes. The situation is of grave concern to us and I request the cardiologists to help with what measures the Maharashtra government should take up.” Minister said, “As a part of the Mahatma Phule Jan Arogya Yojna we are covering angiography and angioplasty. We are also taking care of diabetes in this Yojna but specialist advice is important.”

As part of the summit, the Hon’ble Minister felicitated doctors for their outstanding contribution to the field of cardiology.

Remarking on the pioneering effort made by the group, Deepak Lamba, President –Times Strategic Solutions, said, “The summit was crafted to spread awareness about cardiac health through knowledgeable speakers and also to showcase the diverse and current happenings in the fraternity. Through this summit, we hope to identify the key concerns, best practices and new solutions for curing heart ailments.”

Talking of the cardiovascular burden India is carrying Dr. Vijay Sadashiv Joshi, President Eris Lifesciences said, “According to an article I read, in developed countries lives lost because of deaths are 800 per 100,000, in China its 250 per 100,000 and it was shocking to read that its 450 per 100,000 in India. What was even more alarming was that 80 percent of these deaths happen before the age of 50 in India while in other countries statistics record 23 percent of deaths before the age of 70. We take immense pride in calling ourselves a young population with a median age of 24 years but once we try to correlate this young age and the cardiovascular deaths happening in that particular cluster, we see a need to address this situation very seriously. One of the major breeding factors of cardiovascular diseases is hypertension.”

Thanking the Economic Times team for bringing together the hold guards of cardiology in India, Dr. Naresh Trehan, Chairman & MD, Medanta said, “Through this partnership we can reach millions and millions of people and if this event is conducted on regular intervals, can go on to become a ‘Hallmark of the future’. He added, “Today, the data reveals that we are the capital of coronary heart disease in the world and are in the twin jeopardy of also being the diabetic capital. This situation has made it impossible for us to even estimate what burden of heart disease will be when we move forward with the population of 1.3 billion.” He also pointed out the disconnect between the government and private sector and said that the invitation from the minister will help at a national level. He urged the industry to be transparent and regulated, providers and practitioners to be involved in decision making and to start a dialogue at a State and Central level.

The summit got interesting with an interactive session called ‘Value Chain Colloquim: Holistic Habitude for  a Healthy Heart’ with inputs from visionaries like B.K. Goyal- Interventional Cardiologist, Bombay Hospital & Medical Research Centre; Dr. Lekha Pathak, Head cardiology, Nanavati Hospital; and  Dr. Tiny Nair, Chief Consultant Cardiologist, PRS hospital. Throwing a light on Coronary Artery Disease, Dr. Goel Said, “CAD has increased in younger generation over the past few years as young as 27. The number one factor for CAD is smoking and it has also increased in women. India is the best country to carry out the clinical research on CAD as more people are suffering from the disease.”

Addressing the issue Dr. Lekha said,”CAD is an underrated disease in women. According to an article in India Health Journal, Heart disease is actually the number one killer of women, causing death in 1 in 3 women. That’s about one death per minute. This represents more deaths than HIV, Cancer, Malaria, TB etc. If precautions are not taken, every alternate person in India will suffer from CAD by 2030.”

The summit continued with a special address from Dr. Rohit Sane, MD & CEO, Madhav Baug, who said, “A recent research published in Lancet 2017 shows India has 23% mortality in the first year after diagnosis heart failure. The country needs to do something more to improve quality and quantity of life of chronic heart patients by combining new age medicine and ancient ayurveda.”

The summit culminated with a panel discussion on “India – the heartland of Healing”, where Dr. Dev Pahlajani and Dr. Ajay Chaurasia stressed on maintaining a healthy lifestyle. They said, “Maintaining good cardiovascular health will help to prevent a whole range of heart problems, such as hypertension, heart attack and heart failure, while also benefiting overall health. There are several diet and lifestyle changes that one can make to keep a healthy heart.”

Dr. Chaurasia shared 7 ways of maintaining a healthy cardiovascular health, through maintaining normal value of fasting glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass index and doing moderate exercise for 30 minutes 5 days a week along with healthy food habits.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)