'Post-Covid heart attack, blood clotting, depression on the rise'

There is a steep rise of heart problems such as chest pain, blood clots, heart attack, heart rhythm, cardiac arrest, heart-swelling, heart failure, low pump capacity, abnormal heartbeat in a number of recovered Covid patients between 17 and 35 years of age.

Speaking about the problem, Dr T.S. Kler, Chairman, Fortis Heart & Vascular Institute, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, said, to keep the heart's normal functions, post-Covid patients after two months should go for a regular heart screening, exercise or do yoga for at least half an hour and stick to a healthy diet, stay physically active and take medication as suggested by the doctor.

Kler said coronavirus causes clots in the heart vein which results in sudden heart attack however, he said it can be dealt only with timely treatment. Also due to Covid fear, people were worried and due to lockdown, they were not able to travel anywhere which causes obesity, stress and depression.

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He further said Covid-19 has also led to cardiac injury in people who were free of any heart disease. Thus, there is a large number of people who are suffering from heart problems.

Dr Kler highlighted, "After getting infected with the coronavirus, patients suffered from several heart ailments even after two-three months. After the second wave of the Covid, I have observed that every day one or two young age patients are suffering from heart ailments.

He said, "Those who have developed chest pain after recovery from Covid or those who have already suffered from heart problems and have got infected with Covid-19 should go for cardiac tests to know their condition of the heart".

Apart from this, Dr Kler and his team had recently performed a complex surgery on a 17-year-old girl from Sikkim and saved her life at Fortis, Gurugram. She was suffering from a rare kind of arrhythmia, called Junctional Tachycardia, which is very uncommon in youngsters at her age.