Srinagar: Director SKIMS also a famed cardiologist Dr. AG Ahangar Wednesday pointed to five S’s as reasons for growing heart attacks in the Kashmir valley.
Speaking to newsgathering agency KNS, Dr. Ahangar said, “The heartbeat or the Cardio activity is the centre of the existence of the human body. The heart pumps the blood in the body. Heartbeat varies with the age.”
The reason for sudden cardiac deaths is advanced coronary artery disease wherein the blood vessel supplying blood to the heart is diseased beyond a certain level. “A person can die of sudden cardiac arrest when the circulation of a major part of heart gets affected. The heart can also have the disease of its muscle itself.”
He said the other reason can be that the conduction system of the heart is not properly working. “Suddenly the heart rate of the patient either becomes very low or out of control,” he said.
Responding to a question of whether stress or smoking increases the risk of heart attacks in Kashmir, he said, “When we talk of stress or smoking, these things can add to the problem where heart rate changes. Maybe it either goes very low or becomes very fast.”
He said that there are five S’s — Salt, Sugar, Sedentary Lifestyle, Smoking, Stress, that may lead to a heart attack.
“Excessive consumption of salt leads to hypertension and hypertension leads to many diseases including heart disease. Excess of sugar leads to diabetes. The combination of diabetes and hypertension can damage blood vessels of the heart, liver, brain or any organ. The other S is Sedentary Lifestyle. When we eat and do not do any physical activity, it gets deposited in the body as fat. Lipid levels, triglycerides raise. It chokes the blood vessels thus leading to the heart attack or liver failure or kidney failure.”
He said the other S is Smoking, it increases the problems of diabetes, hypertension.
The last S is stress and it is the worst one. In combination, all five Ss must be minimized.”
On being asked whether SKIMS has formed a team to study the increase in sudden heart attacks in Kashmir, he said, “SKIMS is not only a tertiary care hospital but a University also. By virtue of that, we get scholars to research many subjects. All related departments work together for collaborative research. We have two dedicated departments for it.”
Regarding reports of 2nd wave of coronavirus with different strains, Director SKIMS said, “I would reiterate that the social distancing, wearing face masks and frequent hand sanitising is very important to avoid from getting exposure to the Covid19.”
“There are no restrictions now, business is coming back, markets, schools, colleges are opening but we have to be vigilant, we must not lower the guard, we must maintain vigil so that the infection would not hit us again,” he added.
He also said that he was probably the first person in India to get a dose of covishield covaxin after the vaccination program was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I have got another dose of the vaccine after 28 days. I followed what is routine, mandatory. I want to convey to all the people that this vaccine is safe, and everybody must take it. Government has strategised the use of the vaccine.”
“My message to the people is very simple but important, we all know that how much devastation and depression this covid19 has brought in the world, if you want the human race to survive, please maintain some discipline, maintain social distancing, wear face masks, wash your hands frequently.”
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