Healthy heart-Mantra for successful and healthy pilgrimage: Dr Sushil

STATE TIMES NEWS

POONCH: Keeping in view the ongoing Holy pilgrimage of Buddha Amarnath Ji Yatra in Peer Panjal ranges Head Department of Cardiology GMCH Jammu Dr Sushil Sharma held a day long Cardiac awareness cum Health checkup camp in association with Municipal Council Poonch in loving memory of Sher-e-Poonch Late Yashpal Sharma (Former MLC), The man behind instrumental in maintaining peace and harmony among all religion in the valley and has played a phenomenal role in preserving and protecting the rich cultural and religious heritage of Poonch district. The camp was organized at Shri Dashnami Akhara Mandir Poonch for masses with particular focus on pilgrims with cardiac issues. The Camp was inaugurated by Shri Shri 1008 Swami Vishwatamanand Ji Maharaj accompanied by Sunil Sharma (President MCP), Dr Sushil Sharma, Vinay Sharma (SSP Poonch), Sandeep Mehta in presence of Municipal Councillor Poonch Balwinder Singh, Naresh Kumar, Sanjay Khajuria and Mohinder Singh amidst Vedic invocations for universal peace and well-being. More than 1500 individuals availed the health checkup services, including ECG, Lipid-profile, and Blood sugar tests. Free medicines were distributed as per medical advice. The main aim of the camp was to screen and educate people to follow healthy lifestyle in line with healthy heart so they can come for this holy pilgrimage again and again in coming years with hale and hearty health. While Interacting with the people, Dr Sushil stated that Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) currently account for one in three deaths worldwide. Around 80% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bringing a double burden of diseases to health systems that are already overstretched by communicable diseases. The risk of developing CVDs is highly influenced by lifestyle-related factors such as a high consumption of unhealthy food, physical inactivity, tobacco use, and harmful use of alcohol. These disadvantageous health behaviors are becoming more prevalent in LMICs due to elevated exposures and limited preventive services. He elaborated that Cardiac rehabilitation programmes involving lifestyle modification, psychological interventions, education, and counseling have been shown to limit the adverse physiologic and psychological effects associated with cardiac illness and enhance patient’s quality of life. He further told that religiousness has been shown to enhance self-esteem, generate positive emotions, and promote positive self-care practices by encouraging individuals to refrain from unhealthy lifestyle practices, which in turn fosters well-being. Intrinsic religiousness, spiritual well-being, and attending to one’s spiritual needs were related to better physical, mental, and emotional functioning. On the other hand, spiritual constraint and lower spiritual well-being were associated with poorer physical and emotional well-being. He further added that worrying is the fact that heart diseases in India occur 10 to 15 years earlier than in the West. With millions hooked to a roller-coaster and unhealthy lifestyle, the future does not look bright. The numbers don’t look so good as compared to the West. In India 30-35% of heart attacks occur before the age of 45, compared to 4-10% in West. This is a reminder that one should not ignore warning symptoms just because they think they are ‘too young’ to have heart ailment, he said. Others who were part of this Camp includes Dr Rahul Sudan (DM Gastro), Dr Balvinder Singh, Dr Pallavi Banotra, Dr Hemanshi Verma, and Dr Mohd. Azam. Paramedics and volunteers includes Farooq Sheikh , Nirvair Singh Bali, Ahmed Raza Khan, Rohan Sharma, Vinkal Bali Fasir Aziz, Mohd Azam, Rajinder Singh, Aman Gupta, Vikas Kumar, Gourav Sharma, Nirjyote Singh, Pankaj Shergill, Yasir Arafat, Jatin Kapoor, Tariq Hafeez, Vikram Jeet Sharma, Harsh Bali, Jagjit Singh and Sumit Sharma.