Expressing concern over the rise in heart attacks among people after the COVID-19 pandemic, T.N. Health Minister Ma. Subramanian on Tuesday said that the State government, through a scheme, ‘Idhayam Kappom’, has stocked the life-saving emergency loading dose at 10,999 rural health facilities: 8,173 health sub centres (HSCs) and 2,286 primary health centres (PHCs), to treat persons experiencing symptoms of heart attacks, after which they would be taken in an ambulance to a nearby higher health facility.
The Minister said that the scheme, which was announced in the State Budget, was rolled out on June 27. “If a person experiencing symptoms of a heart attack approaches an HSC or PHC, he/she would be given the loading dose as the initial treatment and would then be moved to a higher medical centre,” he said.
Mr. Subramanian raised the need for early treatment to save lives. He said a number of persons have benefitted from the cardiac drugs, and gave the instance of three patients who were initially treated with these drugs at the Alathur PHC in Thanjavur district over the last month. He spoke to the patients: two women aged 50 and 42 years, and a man aged 36 years, over the phone, during his inspection.
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The Minister who inaugurated a heart institute at Kauvery Hospital, Radial Road, said that compared to other States, Tamil Nadu led the country in hospital infrastructure, medical colleges and healthcare for people through PHCs and HSCs. He acknowledged the contribution of private hospitals in taking forward organ transplants, the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme and the Innuyir Kappom-Nammai Kakkum 48 emergency care scheme.
Ajith Pillai, chief cardiologist and head of department, cardiology at Kauvery Hospital, said that the heart institute would provide comprehensive cardiac care across all ages and for different types of heart diseases: starting from newborns to the geriatric.
Aravindan Selvaraj, executive director of Kauvery Hospital and S. Chandra Kumar, executive chairman of the hospital also spoke.
