This year’s theme is ‘Use Heart for Every Heart’
World Heart Day is observed every year on September 29 with an objective to raise awareness about the rising concerns of heart health and cardiovascular diseases and ways to prevent and treat the same.
This year’s theme is ‘Use Heart for Every Heart’. As per World Heart Federation, it means:
Use Heart means to think differently. To make the right decisions. To act with courage. To help others. To engage with this important cause. The heart is the only organ you can hear and feel. It is the first and last sign of life. It is one of the few things with the potential to unite all of us as people.
For Every Heart involves the use of “FOR” and swings the focus from the actions themselves to the beneficiaries of the actions, allowing for wider application of the campaign while also making it more personal. We want World Heart Day messages to reach as many individuals as possible to help achieve cardiovascular health for every heart.
According to Dr Ankit Gupta, Managing Director of Park Group of Hospitals, we can maintain a healthy heart in spite of our sedentary lifestyles. Heart attacks are silent killers that strike unexpectedly and without warning. World Heart Day 2022 has special significance due to the rising cases of cardiac ailments and conditions among the youth. This is due to a variety of factors, including lifestyle disorders, stress, lack of or increase in physical activity, smoking and drinking, and improper gym training involving harmful nutritional supplements. All of these elements can contribute to heart attacks and strokes. In India, young adults in the age group of 20-30 are getting more and more prone to cardiac ailments. Aside from regular check-ups, we must lead a healthy lifestyle. My message is ‘Keep your Heart Healthy and Live Easy’.
Dr Prakash Pant, MD, DM, Cardiologist, HealthPlix Platform said, “The doctor patient ratio is against WHO standards in India, with patient load being always on higher side. 70 per cent of India lives in towns and small cities. Rural patients in India generally have poor health records and often do not speak English – making it tedious esp for cardiologists like us to treat them. Providing remote cardiac care in the local language using platforms like HealthPlix can help in educating patients about their condition and treatment options. Educating patients in their local language is essential for Bharat, as it makes it easier for patients from these regions receive remote care or in-person care for cardiac patients.”
“In India, the prevalence and incidence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is on the rise, especially in rural areas. The main reason for this surge is the lack of infrastructure in rural areas. This means that many patients have to travel to hospitals or cardiac research centres in metropolitan areas for proper treatment. It is important to realise that addressing the patient during early hours of any heart disease determines the prognosis. Infact slippage of heart muscles happens during the initial hours.”
Alok Pandey, District President, Uttar Pradesh’s Diploma Pharmacist Gazetted Officer Association said, “Healthy lifestyle and diet habits plays an important role in preventing cardiovascular diseases. I would like to recommend a very beneficial tip in this direction which is intake of fibres with the regular meals. Once we know which foods to eat more of and which foods to limit, we’ll be on our way toward a heart-healthy diet.”
Dr Sunil Sharma, MD, DM Cardiologist, HealthPlix Platform said, “Solving for the initial critical 3-5hours is of utmost importance and telehealth features available on HealthPlix platform absolutely help doctors like us residing beyond metros and solve for our cardiac patients. There is not much respite when the patient’s heart muscle starts to damage. Using telemedicine features from vertical platforms like HealthPlix allows any general physician or doctor to connect with a specialty doctor like cardiologist and immediately examine ECG to check for any heart failure and potential attacks – very important in the case of remote cardiac care. Remote cardiac care is important in the present context of lack of infrastructure.”
Advising on the lifestyle changes, Dr Subhendu Mohanty, Consultant Cardiologist, Sharda Hospital highlights that in today’s time the heart disease has become common health issue but the biggest concern over this is the young people are getting affected. It is said healthy living means healthy heart and if one brings good positive changes in lifestyle, they can see major results in health. Now a day’s people are taking more of alcohol and smoking to get rid of stress whereas these things bring heart diseases.
Dr Mohanty also said people with problems like sugar and blood pressure should be more careful. If you will bring yoga in your daily routine along with good balanced diet you will notice major changes in your health. Try to bring balance in your routine life and live a stress free life. One should try to get a routine based checkup and also never ignore any of the symptoms.
Sharing his view,s on the current scenario of CVDs and treatments, Vikram Thaploo, CEO, Apollo Telehealth said, “Nearly 3.6 million deaths take place in India because of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The concerning part is that it is more prevalent among the younger population. Research has also shown that Indians have the highest rate of coronary artery disease (CAD). Also, India’s age-standardized CVD death rate is higher than the global average rate. This calls for the much-needed attention towards the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases by raising awareness towards the different aspects of CVD. While preventative steps like making changes in lifestyle such as eating healthy, staying active, quitting smoking and managing stress are crucial to good heart health, we also need to employ modern technology for real-time remote diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.”
“Telemedicine, and by extension, telecardiology fulfills the needs of the patients through fast, reliable, sustainable and less expensive services. Apart from that, advances in technology is making it possible for machines to accurately and quickly analyse large amounts of data. This learning improves decision-making, accurate diagnosis, and treatment planning by detecting specific patterns in patient data. Cardiovascular doctors and scientists are now combining artificial intelligence with clinical practice for better care. Remote connected care allows electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnosis using cloud technology and bluetooth-enabled cardiac devices which measure the parameters and transmit them back to healthcare providers without physically visiting the clinic. Connected, and remote monitoring healthcare enables physicians to get timely notifications of changes in their patient’s heart condition to make necessary interventions, thus adding value by ensuring patient safety and reduced healthcare costs.”
Ashok Patel, CEO and Founder, Max Ventilator added, “While we should be careful about our health including cardiac health at all times, this World Heart Day should serve as a great reminder of the ever-increasing risks from cardio-vascular conditions to all of us. The fact that younger people are increasingly experiencing heart attacks and events of cardiac arrest must make us pause and ponder. Of course, today’s unhealthy lifestyle habits have been a major source of the problem. Not eating right and on time, excessive exercising without making a realistic self-assessment of one’s physiological limits, increasing uptake of alcohol and tobacco, and being under perpetual mental and psychological stress due to work or general competitiveness to forge ahead in life and career have all combined to catalyse a rise in cardio-vascular cases today. While the cases of celebrities are reported, we do not know the full extent of the problem since such events with ordinary people rarely come to light. We must also remember that there has been a surge in post-COVID cardio-vascular incidents wherein ventilators had played an important role in stabilising a large number of patients. So as a manufacturer of these lifesaving devices, we hope that our devices can help improve the lung and heart health of as many patients as possible given the linkage between the respiratory and cardio-vascular systems”
Dr Pravin Kahale, Consultant Cardiology, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital Mumbai said, “Everyone around is cautious about the way their skin appears, having healthy hair, and losing weight. However, between all this, we somewhere forget about our hearts. The heart is a very important organ, and heart health should be prioritised and managed with utmost care. A sedentary lifestyle is an indicator of jeopardising one’s heart health coupled with stress and various other factors leading to an increased risk of heart disease. This World Heart Day, let’s pledge to spread the theme, ‘ Heart for every heart’ highlighting to take heart health to every heart.”
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