Preventing heart diseases

Around 50 heart patients die every hour in Pakistan


Editorial September 24, 2019

In a candid admission, heart specialists have said the present healthcare system in the country can hardly provide medical facilities to even a third of the patients. Around 50 heart patients die every hour in Pakistan, experts said while speaking at a conference at the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) in Karachi on Sept 21 to mark World Heart Day.

The conference focused mainly on the preventive side of heart diseases. The experts expressed concern that heart diseases among the youth was increasing at an alarming rate. The contributing factors include lack of exercise, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Fifty per cent of Pakistanis are afflicted with hypertension, with most of them being unaware of the affliction. Twenty-six per cent suffer from diabetes. The experts said cigarette smoking and the use of tobacco in other forms is a major cause of the rising incidence of heart diseases. They said one way to reduce heart diseases was to discourage smoking and the use of other tobacco products. The price of cigarettes and of other tobacco products should be increased so much as to make them beyond the reach of most people. This is necessary because tobacco causes not only heart diseases but various types of cancers and lung diseases.

Officials and experts at the NICVD said they, in collaboration with other organisations and pharma firms, would soon launch a campaign to increase awareness about heart diseases. A specialist said heart diseases could be reduced by 30 per cent by discouraging tobacco consumption. Another expert emphasised the need for setting up preventive cardiology units in major hospitals. He said in a country where most patients cannot afford medications even for a month after suffering from a heart attack, so focus needs to be increased on preventing cardiac diseases. The experts also called for controlling obesity which is resulting in diabetes and heart diseases. Obesity is mostly caused by gluttony. After all, gluttony is not a secret vice.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24th, 2019.

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