It Certainly Takes A Heart, To Donate A Heart: Dr Raajiv Singhal
With the cardiac ailments and cardiac deaths rising in India, according to you, how heart transplant can help in reducing the cardiac deaths?
All cardiac deaths are not due to end-stage heart failures which is when a heart transplant is recommended. In recent times we have witnessed young deaths of people in the public domain who everyone considered fit. Somewhere their health or certain symptoms were ignored or overlooked and hence, the sudden death due to cardiac arrest.
The major cause for the need of a heart transplant is end-stage heart failure. This is a condition that is diagnosed early as the symptoms indicate the stages of a heart failure. The end-stage heart failure patient requires a heart transplant when all other options fail to keep the heart pumping normally. A heart donor in this case is either a brain stroke patient or a road accident fatality.
There is a paucity of heart donors, and the requirement of a heart is higher. Awareness continues to be created in this space and if people were aware of the life they can save with donating a heart, we could save many, many more lives. It certainly takes a heart, to donate a heart.
Where do you think India stands in terms of heart transplants compared to the rest of the world?
The Heart Transplant law is celebrating 25 years in India. India’s heart transplantation programme is the number one programme in South Asia. The heart transplantation programme evolved due to a handful of committed hospitals from the private sector. Today, there are many hospitals armed with clinical excellence to conduct heart transplant surgeries.
India ranks only third behind USA and China in organ transplants conducted every year as per data available on Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation.
India is emerging as a preferred destination for medical tourism. As the number of heart transplants has doubled from 2015 to 2018 and is expected to grow even higher as more hospitals join the national programme, we will be considered as a preferred destination for heart transplants too. The quality of life in survivors is excellent and the survival rate talks highly about the clinical excellence India offers.
Do you think the younger generation in India today is becoming equally at risk for heart ailments as the older patients? If yes, what is contributing to this?
Three most important cases of heart ailments moving to younger age groups are lifestyle, diet and stress. Genetic components are a major part of the ailments. But other factors are external which we are ignoring.
Tobacco consumption, sedentary lifestyles, less of physical activities, dependence on junk food, stress driven medical conditions are several causes for cardiac ailments.
The younger generation are also prone to early diabetes and hypertension, two conditions that pre-empt heart conditions.
Lack of awareness of a genetic pre-disposition, lack of awareness of diet that should be followed to have a healthy life, exercises that should be followed only if recommended by trained experts and some amount of physical activity that is required for all age groups is essential to keep heart ailments at bay.
How do you think technology can be leveraged to strengthen the health infrastructure, especially in cardiac care?
Remote monitoring of e-ICU for cardiac care was a innovative initiative that was launched a decade ago, in which I have played a pivotal role. Technology was leveraged to enable monitoring of critically ill patients in ICU in areas where it was not possible to reach every day. This was probably one of the most relevant applications of using technology to monitor and save lives, remotely.
With increased invasion of technology in the healthcare industry, we are empowered to use and apply technology to reach quality healthcare to smaller towns and cities. One of the new imaging technologies allows physicians to determine more easily if a patient needs an invasive procedure to clear blocked arteries or if a non-invasive treatment, such as medication, would work. Advanced technology is poised to bring surgical expertise to the doorstep of these cities where quality healthcare was still some years away.
Do you think India can emerge as one of the most trusted destinations globally in terms of providing advanced treatment options like heart transplant? Do you think that the Indian healthcare sector will attract more foreign investment in coming months?
Currently, India is witnessing a radical transformation in leveraging advancements in technology and creating collaborative channels to invade areas where quality healthcare was a few years away.
It is not far away that we are in an enviable position to offer quality healthcare, clinical excellence, global expertise at affordable prices to all.
We are already well known for organ transplants, standing at the third position in the world and are poised at third position in Asia for medical tourism too. The leading destinations of medical tourism in India are Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, New Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra.
Yes, India is a destination that is competitive and offers excellent medical treatments.
How is Marengo Asia Healthcare contributing to cardiac care for patients?
Our hospital is one of the fastest emerging destinations in India for heart transplants having achieved a significant number in heart transplants. We continue to do the good work in creating awareness on lives saved when a heart is donated.
Through our Foundation we will continue to spread awareness on congenital heart diseases in children and when diagnosed, continue to support the financially challenged strata to receive appropriate treatment and saving as many lives as we can through our clinical excellence.
Marengo Asia Healthcare is also known for the clinical corridors we have created to ensure quality healthcare reaches all. Through this we are enabling patients to receive appropriate medical treatment even if we must transport our patient to our hospital in another city, at no extra cost. Here we create the matrix of affordability.
