COIMBATORE: The American Heart Association (AHA) has certified Coimbatore’s Sri Ramakrishna Hospital as a Comprehensive Chest Pain Centre.Sri Ramakrishna Hospital is one of the five AHA certified hospitals in India, and the first in Tamil Nadu. Various aspects, right from ambulance service, patients care during admission, advanced treatments, post operative care, education and research, were considered for the certification.Hospital consultant cardiologists stated that cardiovascular disease remains one of the leading causes of death in Tamil Nadu, accounting for approximately 36% of all deaths among people aged 30 to 69 years.Furthermore, the most recent available data indicates a 12.5% year-on-year increase in heart attack-related deaths in India.Underscoring the reasons for cardiac arrest, doctors stated that stress and sleep derivation are two integral parts of cardiac arrest. They said this is accompanied by various other factors like lifestyle changes.Emphasizing the growing burden of cardiovascular disease and its associated disability underscores Dr S Balaji, senior consultant & interventional cardiologist, has urged the govt to increase the insurance scheme for patients coming with emergency angioplasty. Talking to TOI, Balaji said, “The 60 minutes golden hour is crucial in patient care. To address that the hospital ambulances are equipped with ECG transmission that enables preparation at hospital at least 10 to 15 minutes early, saving the patient’s life. Simultaneously, these facilities are absent in other private ambulances.”He said, “Despite carrying out extensive awareness programmes on cardiac arrest and prevention, a gap still exists in patients’ families in deciding the treatment leading to delay and losing the golden hour. In the US, the cost per angioplasty would be Rs 50 lakh. But here we can perform it at for Rs 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh. Affordability is achievable if the govt increases the amount sanctioned for emergency angioplasty. In case of elective angioplasty, we have a definite list of things to do, but in emergency cases the cost might escalate based in the intensity which the govt should consider. These days emergency angioplasty dominate elective angioplasty.”
