Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 21: To strengthen their campaign further to aware people about the effects of cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Sushil Sharma (HoD Cardiology GMC&H & SSH Jammu) held a day long camp at Panchayat Ghar Gompul Domana today.
Accompanied by a team of young doctors, paramedics and volunteers, Dr Sharma examined people of the area for prevalence of cardiac diseases and other health ailments .More than 200 people were screened , evaluated , diagnosed and free medicines were given as per the requirement.
While Interacting with the people Dr Sushil said, “Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults. The global tobacco epidemic kills nearly 6 million people worldwide each year, of which more than 600,000 are non-smokers dying from breathing second-hand smoke.
“Unless we act, the epidemic will kill more than 8 million people every year by 2030. Every cigarette takes away five minutes of one’s life. There is one death every eight seconds in India directly related to smoking. It has been estimated that there are 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and 250 million of them live in India. 17% male and 9% female smokers are in the age group of 13-17 years. 50% smoke bidis while 36% chew tobacco/gutka and most of them start smoking at the age of 15 years,” he added.
Dr Sushil further mentioned the significant risk of Myocardial Infarction with the other forms of Tobacco like bidis and smokeless or chewing tobacco. “While the risk of heart attack with bidi use was as much as with cigarette, or that of chewed tobacco was slightly lower and the risk was four fold in individuals who used both smoke and smokeless forms. Smoking increases blood pressure, decreases exercise tolerance and increases the tendency for blood to clot. Smoking also increases the risk of recurrent coronary heart disease after bypass surgery. Cigarette smoking is the most important risk factor for young men and women,” he said.
Dr Sushil also stressed that the Tobacco abuse is a major risk factor for coronary artery disease – blockage of heart arteries leading to a heart attack. The incidence of heart disease is 3-5 times higher in smokers than non-smokers. “People who smoke their chances of dying of a heart attack are 70% more than in non-smokers”, he said.
He also advised people the best thing all smokers can do for their hearts is to quit. Smokers who quit start to improve their heart health and reduce their risk for CVD immediately. Within a year, the risk of heart attack drops dramatically, and even people who have already had a heart attack can cut their risk of having another if they quit smoking. Within five years of quitting, smokers lower their risk of heart attacks to about that of a person who has never smoked.
Others, who were part of this humane effort included Dr. Mohi Kalsotra, Dr. Dhaneshwar Kapoor Dr Anitipal Singh. Paramedics and Volunteers who were part of the team included Kamal Kishore, Kashmiri Lal, Harvinder Singh, Raj Kumar, Gorav Sharma, Aman Gupta, Rajeev Vohra and Vikas Kumar.
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