KOCHI: Indian Doctors are being accepted world over, said Mar George Cardinal Alancherry. He was speaking after inaugurating the 10th anniversary of Heart Care Foundation(HCF) and the World Heart Day celebrations here. The Heart Care Foundation is doing yeoman service in providing solace to heart patients and also creating awareness among people on how to prevent heart diseases, the Cardinal added. The Cardinal presented lifetime achievement award constituted by Heart Care Foundation to Dr Mathew Samuel, eminent cardiac surgeon, at the function. The award consists of a gold medal and citation.
The launch of Heart Care Foundation’s dream project ‘My Heart House’, a center for the rehabilitation of cardiac patients and for creating awareness on heart diseases, data collection, risk analysis, lifestyle modification classes etc was done by N Venugopal, GCDA Chairman. The land for the center will be provided by GCDA, he said.
Hibi Eden, MLA, Dr Rony Mathew, chairman- Medical Panel, HCF, Fr Thomas Vykkathuparambil, director- Lisie Hospital, Binu Varghese, COO- Idea Cellular, Dr Jacob Abraham, trustee-HCF and Raju Kannampuzha, secretary- HCF also spoke on the occasion.
‘Hrudaya Sangamam 2015’, jointly organised by the foundation and Lisie Hospital was also held as part of the event. Patients who had underwent heart surgeries and their families interacted with the doctors. Drawing competition for children and cooking classes on healthy recipes for women were also held as part of the programme.
Exercise Good for All
We speak about exercises mostly in relation to heart diseases. But recent studies have shown that exercises, suiting to each individual and each organ of the body, can prevent even cancer and diseases associated with brain. Exercise can reduce 10-15 per cent of heart diseases. So the focus can’t be deviated from exercise. Everyone thinks that I won’t have heart attack. It is a positive thought, of course, but we should be cautious, especially those having risk factors like family history of heart disease or diabetes. Do regular check ups after 35 and stop smoking if you are a smoker. Also be alert once you have symptoms like chest pain. Chest pain may not necessarily be the symptom of a cardiac arrest, but when one has it along with sweating even when siting in an AC room it is a sure case of cardiac arrest. Seek immediate medical care in those situations. — Jose Chacko Periappuram, cardio-thoracic surgeon