13 September 2011
Bangalore, India
There are increasing cardiac problems in rural Karnataka and the key reason for this appears to be villagers’ change in lifestyle. Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research gets 1,000 outdoor patients every day, of which 60% are from rural areas.
“Initially, the ratio (of rural to urban population suffering from cardiac problems) was 2:12. This has now narrowed down to 8:12,” said Dr C N Manjunath, professor and HoD of cardiology, and director of Jayadeva Institute.
The cardiac CT scanner that was inaugurated at Jayadeva Institute on MondayCiting reasons for increase of heart-related problems in rural areas, he said: “While physical exercise has reduced among rural folks, smoking and drinking have gone up. All these habits have led to increase in stress and diabetes.”
“We perform 14 to 15 open-heart surgeries every day and have five cardiac cath labs. We will add one more lab to accommodate the increasing number of patients,” he said.
Scheme for sc/st Patients
Chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda on Monday inaugurated the cardiac CT scan facility at Jayadeva Institute. He announced a medical scheme for SC/ST patients under which they can avail a maximum of Rs 1 lakh for treatment of cardiac problems, cancer and kidney ailments, and Rs 50,000 worth free treatment for any other disease.
Disclaimer: The news story on this page is the copyright of the cited publication. This has been reproduced here for visitors to review, comment on and discuss. This is in keeping with the principle of ‘Fair dealing’ or ‘Fair use’. Visitors may click on the publication name, in the news story, to visit the original article as it appears on the publication’s website.