VISAKHAPATNAM: In an attempt to encourage people to follow a healthy lifestyle and adopt preventive measures to ensure a healthy heart, Manipal Hospitals Sunday organised free heart screening for as many as 10,000 people across its units in the country on the occasion of ‘World Heart Day’. In Vizag alone, about 1,200 people were screened for heart problems. Vizag North MLA P Vishnu Kumar Raju inaugurated the screening programme.
The tests were conducted at Manipal Hospitals units in Bangalore, Goa, Jaipur, Salem, Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Mangalore. The event also had talks by cardiologists, interaction with doctors to address general queries, free blood pressure and BMI (body mass index) check- ups.
“Cases of cardiac arrest have become a common occurrence due to sedentary lifestyle, bad eating habits, erratic work schedules and lack of physical activity. Hence, people should undergo regular heart check-ups and the event was aimed to promote this awareness. Any positive steps in this direction would help people to adopt preventive measures,” said Sudarshan Ballal, medical director and chairman of Manipal Health Enterprises, in his statement Sunday.
Senior cardiologists Damodar Rao Kodem and Bhaskar Rao pointed out that heart ailment related facts are both alarming and disturbing. A person between 30 and 50 years dies every minute in India due to cardiac arrest which is largely caused by habits like smoking and drinking apart from unhealthy eating.