JOIN USFreedom ahead of I-Day
All the patients belonging to poor families, were treated free of cost and are in the process of being discharged.
The patients shared their joy with Minister for Medical Education Ramachandra Gowda and Minister for Health B Sriramulu at a valedictory programme on Friday which was held at the Institute to mark the completion of the Indo-American Angioplasty Workshop.
Gowda, who himself has undergone angioplasty, described the Institute as a role model for all government hospitals in the country and advised the patients to take the post-operative medicines properly in order to reap the benefit of this procedure. In a time when corporate hospitals charge exorbitantly for the procedure, the institute invited poor patients through newspapers to register in advance to avail the free service.
Director of the Institute and leading interventional cardiologist C N Manjunath said that heart disease was no longer a forte of senior citizens.
Change in lifestyle
“Forty per cent of the patients were below 50 years of age, indicating the increase of heart disease in younger people,” Manjunath said adding the reason for ever growing patients is change in lifestyle, which includes smoking, high cholesterol, hypertension and diabetes.
The workshop was conducted from August 10 to 14 and was sponsored by Dr Govindaraju Subramani Heart Foundation, Wisconsin, US and the Government-owned Jayadeva hospital.
Dr Subramani and Dr Devaraj, both practising cardiologists from USA, donated stents worth Rs 1.2 crore to the patients free of cost.
Medical aid
The team of cardiologists at the institute along with the doctors from US worked overtime to achieve the record.
Dr Manjunath said the patients should take the medications as directed and those who cannot afford follow up treatment will be given assistance by the institute.
Dr Subramani cautioned the patients about the risk of a recurrence of the block within a few months of angioplasty.
“Tomorrow is Independence Day, but the Institute has given us our freedom from the pain today,” S S Kushald said, who underwent angioplasty.