Renowned cardiologist and Director ‘Gauri Heart Project’ Dr. Upendra Kaul on Saturday called for a change in eating habits and adopting regular exercising to reduce the risk of heart attacks, which have been on a rise in Kashmir lately.
Speaking to GK Web TV correspondent, Saqib Malik on the sidelines of the inauguration of ‘Gauri Heart Centre’ at Lal Nagar Chanapora in uptown Srinagar, Dr Kaul linked the rise in heart attacks largely to unhealthy eating habits.
He said that the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic too had encouraged a sedentary lifestyle by confining people indoors. “Nowadays, the heart attacks are linked to life-style, so they need to be treated through a change in lifestyle itself,” Dr Kaul said.
The cardiologist urged people in Kashmir to include vegetables in their diet rather than binging on rice. “People here eat rice in bulk while salad remains on the sidelines. It should be the other way round,” Dr Kaul said.
He further urged people to add regular exercising to their daily lifestyle “even if it means to exercise for only thirty minutes”.
“Physical exercises as well as exercises to improve the health of our brains are important,” he added.
As for setting up the Gauri Heart Centres, Dr Kaul said that the aim of his foundation was to reduce the number of heart attacks across J&K.
“We aim to make the society heart attack free and are trying to reduce their number substantially,” he said.
Dr Kaul said that the foundation concentrates on the diseases related to high blood pressure, blood sugar and heart diseases.
He said there were patients who have been on medication for years but their blood sugar and blood pressure levels are still above the normal because of inadequate treatment. “Our aim is to provide an adequate treatment for them including better medication that will be affordable,” Dr Kaul said.
Dr Kaul said that they will try to ensure that patients hailing from far-flung districts get the same doctor at their disposal for an ideal treatment.
The renowned cardiologist said that his foundation has identified some places in J&K to install the required machinery for the purpose.
“We are aiming to install these machines at many more places, but that needs a good amount of public funding and under Corporate Social responsibility (CSR) many people have already funded us,” he said.
As for the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Kaul said the virus has changed the lifestyle of people around the globe and by confining people to their homes, has forced the exercise out of their schedules and affected the psychology of people and also increased the risk of heart attacks.