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Kathmandu Sunday April 29, 2001 Baishakh 16, 2058.
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Heart disease
The TU Teaching Hospital has, no matter how
authentic its figures are, registered a marked rise in cases of coronary heart disease
over the last five years. This has no doubt put the focus on why the number of heart
patients is increasing dramatically, especially in the capital. The consumption of
unhygienic food, adulterated oil, dirty water, lack of physical exercise are some of the
causes attributed to this disease. Heart disease has much to do with a person's life
style, and the middle and lower class families are badly affected as they have begun to
consume more red meat due to their relative increase in incomes. This apart, the
statistical graph has featured young people who have been increasingly turning to smoking
and drinking since the country adopted economic liberalization. The most common and
widespread cases of heart ailment identified so far are Ischemic heart disease which is
growing rapidly among adults, along with rheumatic heart disease in children.
The available data on heart disease provided by
the country’s leading hospital underlines that 23 percent of the patients visiting
there suffered from heart ailment. Most of the patients were from within the Kathmandu
Valley. It detected 5,000 cases of cardiac disease in 1996 and the figure shot up to
20,000 within five years’ time, a conspicuous jump indeed. Of the total number of
heart patients detected, 80 percent were men. Uncovering the factors behind the gender
disparity might even help in understanding the nature and causes of the disease better.
One thing in particular that must be noted is that the sudden rise in heart patients might
have been due to better health consciousness among the general public and more people
reporting for treatment, besides the establishment of new hospitals with better treatment
facilities. The country has actually made remarkable progress in the health sector since
the restoration of democracy. The equipment available in the country for treating patients
is much more sophisticated compared to what we had five years ago. This also could be one
of the main reasons the number of heart patients visiting the hospitals has increased by
almost 50 percent since 1996.
We, however, must not ignore that the treatment
of cardiac related diseases in the country is
still expensive and only a few people can afford the costs at the private hospitals
that conductvalve operations, coronary angiography, among other things. A very few
hospitals have virtually monopolised the treatment of heart disease and these are beyond
the reach of ordinary people. There are hardly any social organizations to support those
undergoing surgical treatment. The government cannot tolerate this. It has to open up new
heart treatment centres at different state-run hospitals so that the lower income groups
too can afford complicated treatment facilities. The government must recognize that the
country can never develop until and unless the people of different strata have easy access
to proper health services.
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