By The Hindu Bureau
Copyright thehindu
To improve emergency heart care in rural areas across seven districts of Kalyana Karnataka region, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will launch Heartline programme in Kalaburagi on Wednesday.
Kalyana Karnataka Region Development Board (KKRDB) chairman Ajay Singh, addressing a press conference here on Monday, said that one in five heart attack patients are aged below 40.
The increasing number of deaths due to heart attack is concerning and experts have attributed this rise to sedentary lifestyle, stress and unhealthy diets.
Providing details of cardiac patients, Dr. Singh said that in the last three years, 1,004 deaths have been reported from the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research due to cardiac-related issues, of which 477 were below the age group of 45.
This Heartline initiative uses tele-ECG technology to detect heart attacks and aims to reduce deaths from STEMI, a sensitive form of cardiac arrest.
This initiative follows a spoke-and-hub model. Identified CHCs in the Kalyana Karnataka region will begin clot-busting treatment within the golden hour. Later, the patients will be referred to Jayadeva Hospital.
The Heartline programme is a joint initiative of the KKRDB, the Health and Family Welfare Department and the Medical Education Department.
A total of 32 advanced ambulances with skilled personnel and equipped with EMS systems capable of performing advanced diagnostics and interventions will attend on patients.
Of the 32 advanced ambulances dedicated for providing emergency medical services, Kalaburagi district will get nine, Raichur and Koppal district will have five each, Bidar and Ballari districts will get four each, Vijayanagar three and Yadgir will have two ambulances.
The 32 ambulances have been purchased at a cost of ₹9.64 crore by KKRDB and they have been handed over to the taluk hospitals.
With the 49 existing ambulances with the Health Department, the ambulances fleet size has increased to 81 in the district, Dr. Singh said and added that the KKRDB has spent around ₹2,000 crore under Arogya Avishkara Scheme in the last two years.
KKRDB secretary Nalini Atul and deputy secretary Manjunath Swamy were present.
