New Delhi: According to World Health Organization (WHO), India accounts for at least one-fifth of the 17.9 million cardiovascular disease-related deaths globally, especially in the younger generation. WHO states that unhealthy lifestyle, unbalanced diet, stress, smoking and drinking are the biggest contributors to heart problems in younger people. Doctors and experts also think that heart problems among Indians have almost doubled in the last decade and it is now affecting the younger population in the country.
To discuss more about the growing heart problems in India and what is the need of the hour, Dr Praveen Chandra, Padma Shri, 2016, Chairman- Interventional and Structural Heart Cardiology, Medanta – The Medicity, Gurugram, joined NDTV-Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign Season Finale on August 15.
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The finale special show with Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan and Union Health Minister Dr Mansukh Mandaviya, honours the heroes from the healthcare sector, who have selflessly dedicated themselves to the service of others and their work has been recognised with Padma Awards.
Here are five things Dr Praveen Chandra said about rising cases of heart ailments in the country:
- Heart diseases are increasing in our country because our lifestyle is changing. Today, heart disease is also called a lifestyle disease. Lifestyle covers both mental and physical aspects. Talking about the mental stress – many studies have shown that the increase in mental stress among youngsters because of the race towards materialism, increased urbanisation is increasing the mental stress levels, which eventually results in heart disease.
- The second reason for an increase in heart diseases is inactivity. Physical activity has declined tremendously. People don’t go out for walks, they don’t exercise. Just walking for 45 minutes for 4-5 days a week is enough for a healthy lifestyle.
- The silent killers for heart diseases are Diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. We need to fix all these ailments in order to avoid heart diseases.
- 90 per cent per cent of heart deaths can be prevented just by adopting simple lifestyle changes such as by being diligent about the food and drinks consumed, exercising on a regular basis and by not smoking. If people adopt these few healthy habits, they can avoid a heart attack.
- India is in a very good situation as far as health is concerned.
25 years before, for heart diseases or any other disease many people used to go outside country for the treatment, but today, in India we can provide the best care with the best possible medicine and hardware available. Today, a lot of infrastructure, medicines, hardware needed by hospitals are made in India only and is of good quality and available at a very low price. - Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new revolution, and whenever there is a revolution there will be misuse of it, but AI is a very good start for the healthcare industry. It will help doctors in predicting diseases easily and there will be less mistakes.
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NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – theLGBTQ population,indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the currentCOVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water,SanitationandHygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fightmalnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health,adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues likeair pollution,waste management,plastic ban,manual scavengingand sanitation workers andmenstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India wheretoiletsare used andopen defecation free (ODF)status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched byPrime Minister Narendra Modiin 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
