For India,a country dubbed as the world's heart disease capital of the world,'Billion Hearts Beating',a national campaign by Apollo Hospital assumes vital significance. Inaugurating the campaign in Delhi,Chief Minister of the state Sheila Dikshit,expressing her concern highlighted that the coronary diseases among the urban population have risen from 4% to 11%. We will extend this awareness campaign to our 3000 resident welfare associations under the Bhagadhari scheme and NGOs., Dikshit added. Dr. Prathap C Reddy,chairman,Apollo Hospitals Group,talking to the IndianExpress.com,on the sidelines of the inauguration of the campaign in Delhi said that India does not deserve to be the Heart Disease Capital of the World. When asked how,'Billion Hearts.' is going to help the common man who can more often than not,cannot afford the high cost of the heart cure,Reddy says,We shall be going to schools,colleges and social worker groups to touch all sections of the people,to create mass awareness through this campaign. Talking about the quality of heart care in the country,Reddy asserts that the cure and the outcome in this field in India are better than the best hospitals in the world. But what we need to see is,how can we avoid this (the growing number of heart patients),what I mean is why should everybody go to the cardiologist,some have heart surgeries and some die . We are trying to see as many people as possible avoid this heart attack problems, reasons Reddy. When asked about the country's USP in the field of heart cure,Reddy emphatically says that Indian doctors and healthcare skills are second to none in the world,Our skills are second to none and our cure is very cost effective and we are placed in a very advantageous situation compared to the rest of the world in this respect. But,what we are trying to create awareness to avoid unnecessary heart attacks. Billion Hearts Campaign is not about cure,this campaign is to reverse the heart disease in the country by spreading awareness about the disease. It becomes more important for poor people to avoid the heart ailments, Reddy surmises. The World Health Report (2002) projects Cardio Vascular Disease to be the largest cause of death and disability in India by 2020 (WHO,2002). The WHO also estimated 60% of the worlds population to be Indian by 2010 and by 2015,half of all deaths in India is likely to be caused by CHD and Indian males are three to four times more susceptible to have a heart attack than their western counterparts. Prof. Kiran Walia,Minister of Health,Family Welfare and Child Development,Delhi Government assured state health department's whole hearted support to this campaign.
