Heart attacks kill 13 persons per minute

"It is going to be the leading cause of many deaths in the coming few years, yet there is no programme to create awareness about acute myocardial infarction (heart attacks) in India. According to Dr Deepak Natarajan, senior consultant cardiologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, 'Annually, nearly 72 lakh people die due to heart attacks worldwide of which nearly 50% cases are from India. A rough calculation shows that 13 people die due to heart attacks every minute worldwide, which is a huge figure. But we don't even have a proper registry in India to know the exact figure.' Lack of awareness about the disease is just adding to the number of deaths. 'We have national programmes for many diseases, but there is none for heart attack. There is a dire need to have one for heart attacks as there are so many people who don't even know that they had an heart attack. By the time they reach a nearby hospital the precious time is lost. A recent survey shows that most heart attack patients reach hospital roughly six hours after the heart attack. This makes doctors' task difficult and diminishes survival chances too,' Natarajan added. Speaking at the conference on contemporary trends in the management of acute myocardial infarction, Dr Natrajan informed that primary angioplasty is the only treatment of a heart attack. 'A heart attack happens when there is a clot formation in the blood due to platelets, resulting in the blockage of arteries. In many cases the arteries are tightly blocked and angioplasty is the only solution,' he added" - Times of India