25 per cent of heart patients in India under 40

New Delhi, September 29: Rapid change in lifestyle has contributed more to heart diseases among older people across the globe, but the case is entirely different in India with almost 25 per cent of the victims of cardiac arrests falling under the age of 40.

On the World Heart Day today, cardiologists stress the need on creating larger awareness on the ill-effects of heart diseases and suggest simple ways like quitting smoking, visiting doctors regularly and reducing stress to ward off the deadly disease that takes the lives of thousands of people.

And, they say, children might also be under greater threat of developing cardio vascular diseases with over 60,000 to 90,000 kids getting affected by heart ailments every year in India.

Remaining active, eating healthy food, quitting smoking or saying no to smoking, beating stress and going for regular health check-ups are some of the ways the doctors suggest to people to prevent such diseases.

Apollo Hospitals Chairman Prataph C Reddy, a leading cardiologist himself, says doctors estimate that Indians are nearly four times more susceptible to heart attacks than people in western countries with 25 per cent of those generating such diseases to be under the age of 40.

"This is unheard of in other populations. Fast-paced lifestyle is one reason and another is that Indians are genetically predisposed to attract heart ailments," he says.

Reddy says women might also be in greater danger as they can be attracted to heart diseases after the age of 50 and suggests regular medical checkups as one of the ways to prevent such ailments.

Another cardiologist Dr K S Dagar of Max Hospitals lays emphasis on preventing congenital heart disease, saying the gap between the detection and curing of such cases needed to bridged on a "war-footing".

"Around 60,000 to 90,000 children attract heart diseases in the country and only 15,000 to 20,000 are cured. This gap needs to bridged on a war-footing and greater awareness need to be raised," Dagar says.

One suggestion, Dagar, Chief Surgeon and Head -- Neonatal and Congenital Heart Surgery at Max Hospitals, gives is a special test for women between their 16th and 20th week of pregnancy during which doctors can diagnose whether there are problems in the heart of the baby.

"If the test is negative then there is 90 per cent chance that the child will not have congenital heart ailment," he says, while pitching for training of more manpower so that the technical expertise can be made use of.

Another leading cardiologist M R Girinath said cardiac diseases are assuming "epidemic proportions" in the country. If this trend has to be stopped, Girinath says, the focus should be on prevention involving the control of risk factors that promote the development of the disease.

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‘Avoid campaign on communal lines, politicising army’: EC directs BJP over a month after PM Modi remarks; warns Cong too

News Network

May 22,2024

New Delhi: Acting on a one-month-old notice it sent to the BJP on complaints over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s provocative and communal remarks, the Election Commission of India on Wednesday directed the saffron party’s star campaigners not to make speeches along 'religious/communal lines' and desist from statements that may 'divide the society'.

Separately, it also asked the Congress' star campaigners not to give 'false impression' of abolishing or selling the Constitution, make speeches that create 'mutual hatred or cause tension' between religious or linguistic communities or 'potentially divisive statements' regarding the socio-economic composition of the armed forces.

The EC’s letters to BJP president JP Nadda and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge conveying its directions came 27 days after it issued separate notices to them on complaints against Modi, Kharge and Rahul Gandhi. Though the complaints were annexed in the notice that were sent to party chiefs and not the alleged violators, the names of violators were not mentioned.

It also comes ten days before the seven-phased elections are ending on June 1 though the notices were issued a day before the second phase of polls on April 25. While Nadda had responded to the letter on May 13 after seeking two extensions, Kharge submitted his arguments on May 6 after seeking one extension. They were initially given time till April 29.

In its letter to Nadda, the EC said he has not denied the utterances mentioned in the Congress complaint though it 'stoutly defended' the campaign methods and remarks while invoking a 'unilateral drawing of inferences and interpretations' of star campaigners of opponents. It said its star campaigners continued with objectionable utterances even after the April 25 notice.

The latest communication came against the backdrop of complaints by Congress and other parties which referred to Modi’s speech in Banswara as “communal” where he spoke about Congress seeking to redistribute people’s wealth to “infiltrators”, in a veiled reference to Muslims, and that women’s ‘mangalsutras’ will be snatched.

Emphasising that Nadda’s defence was 'not tenable', the EC said, 'directs you as party president to also convey to all star campaigners to not make speeches and statements, which may divide the society. Directs BJP and its star campaigners to refrain from any campaigning methods/utterances along religious/communal lines'.

In its letter to Kharge, the EC said Kharge too has justified Congress star campaigners’ contentious remarks while claiming that the complaint had 'wilfully extracted only specific portions, devoid of context, to mislead the Commission'. Kharge also claimed that the BJP leaders were making 'motivated statements' invoking religious sentiments to attract voters.

The EC, which had taken cognisance of complaints against Kharge and Rahul, said the assertion of Congress’ star campaigners about the BJP attempting to change the Constitution was allegedly instilling fear in the minds of voters about an uncertain future and an attempt to spread anarchy in the country and could be considered as “corrupt practice” under election laws.

While insisting that it cannot accept the Congress arguments and find it untenable, the EC directed Kharge to convey to all star campaigners that they do not make statements which give a 'false impression such as the Constitution of India may be abolished or sold'.

Amid the Congress making a campaign point on the controversial Agniveer scheme, it also directed him to convey to star campaigners that they should not indulge in political propaganda involving the military and not make 'potentially divisive statements' regarding socio-economic composition of defence forces.

Both the party presidents to ensure that star campaigners refrain from making any statement that may “aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic”.

The EC also referred to controversial statements after the April 25 notice by star campaigners from both sides in its letters, referring to complaints and counter complaints.

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