Mangaluru: With an aim to educate, motivate and create awareness on cardiovascular diseases, KMC Hospitals, Mangaluru unveiled “Guardians of Heart” campaign on account of ‘World Heart Day’ at Hotel Gold Finch on Saturday, September 29.

The campaign aims at creating 25000 ‘Heart Smart Teachers’ to create awareness on Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) among younger generation. The corporate campaign will be rolled across various centres of Manipal i.e. Vijayawada, Mangalore, Goa, Jaipur and Dwarka ( New Delhi). A comprehensive health program was conducted to make this campaign a success. Expert talks were delivered by KMC doctors to create awareness among teachers to handle critical medical emergencies. Dr. Jeedhu Radhakrishnan spoke about tackling sports injuries, burns and seizures. Cardiologists also educated teachers on sudden cardiac deaths among children and chest pains. Heart Smart passes and family health cards were distributed.

Speaking on the occasion Saghir Siddiqui, Regional COO, KMC Hospitals said, “Through this unique initiative we plan to educate teachers who can be the best messengers to students. India is already the diabetic capital of the world today and we are steadily progressing towards becoming the capital of heart diseases as well. Therefore, the disease needs to be tackled at the grassroot level and imperative to create awareness amongst the younger generation. Heart smart teachers will spread healthy heart concepts to kids who in turn will educate their parents and the chain reaction of Heart Smart Teachers – Healthy Kids – Healthy Family – Healthy Nation can be achieved,” he added.

Dr. Padmanabha Kamath, HOD Cardiology Department, KMC Hospitals Mangalore said, “Currently Cardiovascular diseases is affecting people across all age groups. Heart disease in India occurs 10 to 15 years earlier compared to West. Average age group is 25 to 35 years. Sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise, stress are the prime culprits for cardiac arrests. Adapting to a healthy lifestyle at a younger age can definitely save us from most of the lifestyle diseases. Heart Disease can be reduced by Educating, Inspiring, Motivating and Regular checkups“, he added.

With this campaign Manipal aims to explore possibility of changes that teachers can bring about in students, who in turn can pass the message to their families. In addition to this teachers would be attending educative workshops and Manipal will facilitate unique series of candid interactions with Cardiac super specialists who will be educating Teachers about various heart medical emergencies faced and how best it can be addressed.

Dr. M.N. Bhat , Cardiologist KMC Hospitals Mangalore and Dr. Jeedhu Radhakrishnan, Emergency Medicine, KMC Hospitals Mangalore among others were present on the occasion.

About Manipal Hospitals

As a pioneer in healthcare, Manipal Hospitals is among the largest hospital network in India serving over 2 million patients annually. Its focus is to develop an affordable tertiary care multispecialty healthcare framework through its entire multispecialty delivery spectrum and further extend it to homecare. With its flagship quaternary care facility located in Bangalore, India, 8 tertiary care, 7 secondary care and 2 primary care clinics spread across India and abroad, today Manipal Hospitals successfully operates and manages 5,200+ beds. Manipal Hospitals provides comprehensive curative and preventive care for a multitude of patients from across the globe. Manipal Hospitals is first in India to be awarded accreditation by the AAHRPP for ethical standards in clinical research activities. It is also NABL, NABH and ISO certified. Manipal Hospitals is also the most respected hospital company in India and the most patient recommended hospital in India by the consumer survey.