AHMEDABAD: Two BJP ministers clashed over the number of deaths from heart disease in Gujarat. State Education Minister Kuber Didor stated that 1,052 people died of heart attacks in Gujarat in the last six months, with 80 per cent of the deceased being between the ages of 11 and 25. The Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel, however, stated that there are no such statistics.
For a long time, the deaths of young people due to heart attacks have been a matter of controversy in Gujarat, and the education minister has only fueled the issue by publicising the number of youngsters who died from this cause.
While addressing the media in Gandhinagar, Dindor said, “Nearly 80% of them were in the age group of 11 to 25 years and these students and youngsters were not even obese. The 108 ambulance service receives 173 cardiac emergency calls every day,” Youngsters are living in fear because a majority of the heart attack victims were in their age group, he claimed.
“We have seen how people died (due to heart attack) while playing cricket or taking part in garba (a traditional dance form popular during Navratri festivities) in the last six or seven months. I urge teachers to take part in this CPR training camp so that they can save lives,” the minister said.
The statement by the education minister went viral on social media. Gujarat’s health minister, who was in Gandhinagar on Friday, stated, “I do not have any statistics that the education minister talked about. Heart attacks used to occur earlier too, but now, thanks to the media, there is more awareness in that direction.”