Mysore/Mysuru: COVID-19 lockdown has given room for healthy habits among people due to which incidents of heart attack and heart-related ailments have come down drastically, said Dr. K.S. Sadananda, Medical Superintendent of Jayadeva Hospital, Mysuru. 

Speaking to ‘Star of Mysore,’ Dr. Sadananda said that many people were suffering from heart attack due to stress, consumption of junk food and smoking among others. 

Earlier, 50 cases of heart attack and 20 massive heart attack cases used to come to the hospital and also more than 500 patients to the Out Patient Department (OPD), he said and added that the cases have been reduced by 60 percent now due to lockdown. 

He said that the reduction in the number of heart-related cases was due to the people staying at home, spending quality time with their families, less stress, more rest, eating healthy food at home and reduction in smoking among other such habits.

Consultation through telephone

Dr. Sadananda said that more than 400 people had undergone angioplasty procedure from January till date, who have to come once in a month for check-up initially. But following lockdown and restrictions in vehicular movements, the hospital staff are calling them over the phone and enquiring their health condition, he added.

Phone calls are also being made to those who are unable to come for their health check-up and suggestions are being given to continue the medicines which are prescribed to them earlier, he said and added that there are wrong assumptions that the medicines prescribed to them was only for one month and stop taking the medicines after a month. Hence phone calls are being made to patients and suggestions and guidance to continue the prescribed medicines are given to them.

Continuing, Dr. Sadananda said that awareness is being created among the patients not to come to the hospital for routine check-ups as there are chances of Coronavirus spreading and added that requests are being made to the patients to come to the hospital only if there is any emergency. A banner in this regard is also put up in the front of the hospital, he said.

The 350-bed Jayadeva Hospital has 55 heart specialists and more than 650 staff including nurses, lab technicians and security personnel among others.

Patients from Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajanagar and Kodagu districts are dependent on Jayadeva Hospital for heart treatment. There are facilities such as two Operation Theatres, three Cathlabs, four Intensive Care Units (ICU) and 120 beds in General Ward. Three Open Heart Surgeries are performed in the two Operation Theatres and 40-50 angiogram and angioplasty procedures are performed in the three cathlabs, Dr. Sadananda said.