Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) Tuesday said that use of a clot-busting drug saves lives of stroke patients, “but at Kashmir hospitals patients don’t receive this life-saving treatment.”
“Without treatment, stroke patients end up permanently disabled,” said DAK president Dr Nisar ul Hassan said in a statement. “Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is the approved clot-busting intravenous medication that works by dissolving blood clots which cause most strokes,” he said.
He said timely treatment of this clot-buster reduces disability and improves functionality by restoring blood flow to the brain.
“Treatment must start within three hours (in some cases, four-and-a- half hours) of the stroke onset, and the sooner the better,” he said.
Quoting a study, Dr Nisar said patients who did not receive tPA following a stroke were 49 percent more likely to die than those who did receive the treatment.
“Despite life-saving benefits of the drug, patients don’t get it,” he said. DAK President said the peripheral hospitals don’t have stroke management system in place and patients end up in tertiary care hospitals.