Kedah organises heart care awareness programme

ALOR SETAR, Sept 28 -- Over 500 participants from all walks of life participated in an awareness run in conjunction with the state-level 2019 World Heart Day at Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB) here today.

The five-kilometre run, which began at 7.30 am, was officiated by Kedah Health director Datuk Dr Norhizan Ismail.

Dr Norhizan said the event was among the initiatives to instil awareness in the people on the importance of caring for the heart following the increasing number of cases related to heart disease in the state.

“Angiogram procedures performed in HSB to check for blocked blood vessels in the heart have shown an increasing trend with 1,259 cases in 2016 to 1,362 cases in 2017 and 1,543 cases in 2018. This year, as of June, there were 755 cases.

“Of those cases, the number of patients who underwent the coronary intervention procedure was 629 in 2016; 736 in 2017, 964 in 2018 and 321 in the first six months of this year,” he told Bernama here today.

Also present was Kedah Health, Rural Development, Religious and state Government Linked Companies Committee chairman Datuk Dr Ismail Salleh who expressed concern over the rising number of young people including those in their 20s who suffered a heart attack.

-- BERNAMA