Two-day annual conference stresses need of govt participation to control heart ailments

KOZHIKODE: Dr P K Asokan, national president of Indian College of Cardiology and Chief Cardiologist at Fathima Hospital, Kozhikode, urged the government to introduce comprehensive health insurance schemes covering expenses for treatment for heart attack including angioplasty and open heart surgery.
Addressing the seventh annual conference of Kerala chapter of Indian College of Cardiology (ICC) at Hotel Taj Gateway, he said people should not die of heart ailment due to lack of money for treatment.He said states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana have already made tremendous progress in providing health insurance covering heart ailments. He said the health and insurance sectors in the state have to evolve schemes to ensure that the common men enjoys the benefit of the best and most advanced treatments.
Dr V V Radhakrishnan, president ICC, Kerala said a sustained campaign by the state health department and experts in the field is the need of the hour to create public awareness on the need for early detection and diagnosis of cardiac ailments and treatment. Proper dissemination of medical knowledge is the only way to ensure that benefit of advancements in medical technologies like minimally invasive angioplasty reach everyone.
Dr K P Balakrishnan, Organising secretary and Head of the department of cardiology, KIMS Alshifa Hospital, Perinthalmanna said apart from genetic predisposition, unhealthy changes in food habits and sedentary lifestyle of people contributed to the highest incidence of heart diseases. He
said state health department has to identify the regional population based risk factors and evolve schemes for primary prevention.
The two-day annual meet also organised scientific sessions offering in-depth understanding on issues related to abnormal heart rhythms, heart failure, newer diagnostic methods, modern devises, techniques and drugs in the fields of clinical and interventional cardiology. The two day meet concluded here on Sunday had twelve scientific sessions covering topics such as management of heart failure, combination therapy in hypertension, ambulatory BP monitoring, abnormal heart beat, anticoagulants and acute Coronary syndrome.
A debate session on Aggressive dietary cholesterol restriction and special sessions X-ray and ECG evaluation were also held as part of the programme.
More than 300 experts, eminent speakers, faculty, scientists and researchers attended the conference that was concluded here on Sunday.