Ludhiana, May 10
“The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 60 per cent of the world’s cardiac patients will be Indians by the year 2010,” revealed Dr G.S. Wander, chief cardiologist and coordinator at Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI) here while emphasising the need for creating proper cardiac-care awareness and strengthening the facilities for the treatment of heart diseases.

In a lecture at the HDHI here today, he said studies had shown that of all, Asians and South Asians had the worst problems when it came to heart disease. Also, nearly 50 per cent of cardiovascular disease-related deaths in India occurred below the age of 70, compared with just 22 per cent in the West. In 2000, for example, India lost more than five times as many years of economically productive life to cardiovascular disease than did the US, where most of those killed by heart disease were above the retirement age.

“Statistics suggest,” he added, “South Asians seem more naturally vulnerable to heart disease than other ethnic groups. South Asians in Canada appear to have a higher rate of heart disease than Europeans or Chinese living there. We are predisposed to the disease six times more than the West and 20 times than the Chinese.”

According to De Wander, awareness creation was the joint responsibility of doctors, media and also the individuals. Opening green belts, parks, organising joint programmes with doctors for mass education and fitness classes in schools were some of the means of awareness-generation. “The society ought to understand the seriousness of the problem,” he stressed.

Expressing similar views, Dr Rupinder Sidhu, deputy administrator of the institute, said, “Till about 15 years ago, we in India had the problem of treatment facilities. The facilities available at that time were not accessible to the common public, but only to the rich and the powerful. However, from 1998 onwards, things started changing.”

“Now the facilities are available to common man, but the treatment is yet to be made fully affordable. With the coming of health insurance schemes in this sector, the scenario of seeking treatment for cardiac ailments has undergone a sea change and has improved a lot.”

Dr Sidhu remarked that to make things more easier, the government had also initiated schemes to ensure that high-end medical care became accessible and affordable for the common man. The most notable initiative in this direction in Punjab was the “Sanjivni Healthcare Scheme,” which had benefitted thousands of needy patients, particularly in rural areas.

Although the scheme was yet to be renewed during this financial year, the institution continued to receive scores of queries every day from people who wanted to know the latest status of the scheme, said Dr Sidhu.