Report from Anil Paul Jacob
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)
Udupi, Sep 20: The World Heart Day is being observed on September 28 and Kasturba Hospital Manipal is undertaking several initiatives on the occasion, through organizing programmes, offering check up at reasonable rates and spreading awareness, etc.,
Through a press release, chief operting officer and medical superintendent of the hospital T S Raghu Raman has said, that heart disease and stroke is the No. 1 killer disease in the world, claiming 17.5 million lives a year. Eighty per cent of these lives are from population in low and middle income countries, many amongst those are people who are bread winners for their families. Physical inactivity contributes significantly to the ageing of the heart, and can lead to overweight, obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Controlling major risk factors such as an unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and tobacco use can prevent heart attacks and stroke and help the slow the ageing process of the heart.
The message of World Heart Day 2008, "Know Your Risk," is a positive one and emphasizes the importance of a heart-healthy lifestyle to leading a better, longer life. Through this year's campaign, Kasturba Hospital encourages people to find out their risk and to create awareness and to find out what people can do to reduce it, the press release says.
The hospital has informed, that with the objective of creating awareness of cardiac diseases among the public, a special cardiac screening package including ECG, BP, Blood Sugar, Fasting Lipid Profile, and consultation with cardiologist, is being offered as a special heart screening package for just Rs 333 from September 22 to 29, 2008.
An interactive session with the students of Manipal Institute of Technology on 25th September for the young adults who will be actively participating in the interactive session is being organized on the occasion. This session, to be held at MIT auditorium, aims to address risk factors, healthy life style and de-stressing techniques.
Raghuraman adds, that the life-style modification in this era has led to people developing heart diseases at a very very young age. Women also suffer from cardiac diseases having the same ratio as of men, but at more risk as the heart problems in women usually go undetected. Keeping this in mind, the hospital is organizing an open dialogue session for ladies on September 26 at the Chaitya Hall of Hotel Velley View International, Manipal.
On the occasion World Heart Day-2008, Kasturba Hospital Manipal is organizing an Awareness Talk for the general public with the theme, ' Know your risk' at Conference Hall, Shirdi Sai Baba Cancer Hospital at 10.30 am on on September 17. The programme envisages to create awareness about healthy habits among the people and thereby help people have healthier hearts and also better lives through prevention and control of heart diseases, Raghu Raman explains.