BENGALURU: Health and Family Welfare Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday said that the State Government has plans to install Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) at bus stands and railway stations to help individuals during medical emergencies.
The minister was responding to Council members on questions related to increasing heart attack cases, especially in Hassan district. Rao said such cases are linked to diabetes, BP, pollution, stress, obesity and sedentary lifestyle. Steps will be taken to identify those having these symptoms by creating awareness. Medicines will be given to them to overcome these problems.
Under the Hrudaya Jyothi scheme, tele ECG facilities will be set up across the state. In case of heart block, tenecteplase injection worth Rs 25,000 is given at government hospitals free of cost for immediate relief, he said.
Medical Education Minister Sharanprakash Patil said increasing heart attack cases, especially among youngsters, are a cause for concern. Measures have been taken to prevent them. The pattern of heart attack cases was observed for two months and it was the same indication of 6% of previous years. Linking heart attack cases with Covid-19 is not correct, he added.
Due to out-of-proportion reports and messages about such cases, 25% of admissions increased at Jayadeva Hospital. A committee headed by Dr Ravindranath from Jayadeva Hospital has ruled out a Covid-19 link, he said.
The minister said the government will open a cardiology unit in Hubballi in eight months, and another in Belagavi in two months.