KARACHI: Hypertension is a silent disease not only because there is no “real data” on the number of patients in Pakistan but because there are no conclusive indicators as to why a person even gets hypertension.
These views were expressed by Pakistan Hypertension League (PHL) convener Abdul Rasheed Khan on Friday during the league’s 14th annual symposium. Important factors that need to be focused on, Khan said, are a person’s diet especially “what to eat and how, as well as, what to drink and when”.
PHL president Professor Mohammad Ishaq said the purpose behind the formation of PHL in 1997 was to bring awareness about “one of the most common diseases, which is not recognised as a serious health risk in the developing world”. Quoting global statistics, Ishaq said that 20 per cent of the adult global population was affected by hypertension.
“Many think that hypertension is a personal problem and needs to be dealt with on an individual basis but they are wrong. This is a public health issue,” he added. Ishaq also elaborated on the transition of fatalities from traditional communicable diseases to non-traditional and non-communicable disease in the developing world over the last 50 years. He also said the transition of these illnesses was rapidly moving from the developed to the developing world.
“Hypertension is a silent disease which can go unnoticed if it is not checked and you need to have proper information and trained physicians to help a patient manage the disease,” he said.
Ishaq suggested the medical community in the country needs to focus on diabetes, smoking and hypertension. “Strokes and heart attacks are claiming too many young lives now and these three factors are the main cause,” he said.
Senate Committee on Health chairperson Abdul Haseeb Khan, who was the chief guest, said that “one cannot do much for those who die of natural causes but it is wrong for one to deliberately not take care of their health”.
“Diabetes, ulceration, high blood pressure are all psychosomatic problems,” he said. Khan added that a “change of attitude” is needed to help avoid such problems. Sleeping pills are the third highest selling pills worldwide after antibiotics and vitamins mainly because people take undue stress and their minds are not at ease, he said.
Karachi University vice-chancellor Pirzada Qasim Raza said it was “a shame that only one per cent of the GDP was spent on healthcare”. Calling on the private sector to take an initiative along with individual efforts, Raza said “the commitment must come from the people now” and depending solely on the government was no longer an option. According to Raza, “primary healthcare is the country’s biggest problem” and suggested that training sessions on blood pressure, hypertension and diabetes should be incorporated in medical students’ curriculum prior to awarding them degrees.
How to keep blood pressure under control:
Make healthy food choices
Eat less salt
Get physically active
Medications can help
Monitor blood pressure while on medications
Report any side-effects immediately to your healthcare provider
Whenever your blood pressure is high (equal or more than 135/85 mmHg) while taking at home, check with your healthcare provider
Source: Pakistan Hypertension League
Published in The Express Tribune, January 15th, 2011.
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