Every 2nd Heart Attack patient in India takes more than 6 hours to reach a hospital, which is almost 13 times more than the ideal window of 30 Minutes, as per the Govt. Data. This data at some places also crosses more than 15 hours to reach hospital in India, as lot of time is lost during transportation.
A lot of precious time is still being wasted in taking a heart attack patient to the facility that is capable of treating Heart Attacks says Dr Rahul Katariya, Interventional Cardiologist & Cardiac Electrophysiologist at Vrudam Institute of Medical Sciences, at Surat.
He further explained, “The delay mostly is because of the patient being remotely located in rural areas or belonging to a terrain that is difficult to access. Beyond 90 minutes delay, the heart muscles suffer irreversible damage due to lack of blood supply”.
He said, “If the clot buster medicine is not given within 90 minutes, the chances of patient pulling through are near zero. Ideally it should not take more than 30 minutes from the symptoms to the door of a hospital equipped to treat heart attack cases.
He added, Situation in Surat is no different than rest of India. We also receive patient late & by the time we start treating the patient, the lot of heart muscles have already died & impact stays for rest of the life after the successful treatment also.
Dr Rahul said, At Vrudam Institute of Medical Sciences, We have a dedicated team of doctors along with the state of the art infrastructure, cutting edge technology providing care to patients at an affordable cost, 24X7. The successful treatment of heart disease requires great care & wholesome approach. The Vrudam Heart Institute comprises of highly experienced doctors, trained nurses from various cardiac Subspecialities.
What to do in case of a heart attack
For Critical Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), a few important concepts should be kept in mind
- Start compression within 10 seconds of recognising a cardiac arrest
- Push hard and push fast: at a rate of at least 100 compressions per minute with a depth of at least 2 inches (or 5cm) for adults
- Allow complete chest recoil after each compression
- Minimise interruptions (try to limit interruptions in compressions to less than 10 seconds)
- Give effective breathing that makes the chest
- During CPR if the ribs break, do not worry
- After successful CPR, take the victim to the nearest hospital
- CPR should always be done on the floor or a hard bed
- Alternate cardiac massage on the chest after every two minutes
