Surge in heart attacks worrying: Medics
Irfan Tramboo
SRINAGAR, Feb 12: Kashmir valley has witnessed a steep rise in the number of deaths caused due to heart attacks while also recording a worrying jump in the incidence of cardiovascular diseases.
As per the figures on the heart attacks of the Department of Community Medicine, GMC, Srinagar, in Kashmir at least 46 per cent of deaths in Kashmir are caused due to heart attacks.
At the same time, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases has also gone up to 8.37 per cent which was considerably low earlier and is said to be worrisome.
Pertinently, for the last few months now, there has been an increase in the incidence of heart attacks in Kashmir, particularly among young people.
A number of such people who suffered heart attacks have also died across Kashmir despite timely medical attention while many could not make it to the nearby health facilities.
The doctors said that the age for a person to have a heart attack is ideally between 50-55 years; however, they said that now they are increasingly seeing youngsters suffering heart attacks reaching hospitals across Kashmir.
While the experts have put forth a volley of reasons that could be causing heart attacks among the youngsters, the doctors who receive the majority of such cases stated that more than 70 per cent of such cases are that of smokers.
“There is a surge in such cases and it is indeed worrying as we see such cases on daily basis. While most of these patients are smokers, there can be other reasons too,” Dr Sayed Maqbool, Interventional Cardiologist at Super Speciality Hospital Srinagar told Excelsior.
There is another side of the story too which is stated to be the drug abuse in Kashmir.
As per the United Nation Drug Control Program, there are at least 70,000 people in Kashmir who are involved in the drug abuse out of which 90 per cent belong to the age group 17-35 years.
DAK led by Dr Suhail Naik said that a steep rise in drug abuse may be one of the contributing factors to a surge in sudden case of heath attacks among youth in the Valley.
“Over the years, Valley has witnessed a considerable rise in drug abuse cases as youth are taking drugs due to its easy availability, accessibility and affordability,” a doctor said.
Other reason behind heart attacks, doctors said, could be high blood pressure, high cholesterol and smoking.
“There is a lack of physical activities especially in winters; there is also a need to avoid stress and while as people should focus more on keeping themselves busy,” they said.
Notably, the Health Department has also added to the monitoring and management of the Emergency Room as reported by Excelsior earlier across Kashmir hospitals while also focusing on the training the staff for handling such cases.
The move is also aimed at providing efficient first aid to the patients with heart attacks so that they can be referred to the tertiary care hospitals for further treatment without suffering major damages.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
