National meet of heart failure management begins in Kochi

KOCHI: The CSI Heart Failure Conference organised by the Cardiology Society of India Heart Failure Council, in collaboration with CSI Kerala Chapter, began at Hotel Le Meridien, Kochi, on Saturday. The aim of the conference is to take stock of increasing heart failures in the country and improve outcomes of heart failure cases in India.

The conference was inaugurated by P Sreeramakrishnan, Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly. “The conference is highly significant in view of the increasing heart failure, assuming the form of an epidemic, stressing the health resources and crippling human resources and economy,” said Sreeramakrishnan. 
Explaining the significance of the first-ever national CSI conference on heart failure in the state, organising secretary Dr Jabir A said that heart failure is the greatest health care challenge of our times with a dise

ase mortality rate of 30 per cent in a year and survival rate of only 50 per cent in a span of three years. “There is a lack of general awareness of what heart failure is and how it is different from a heart attack. Heart failure is the weakening of the heart’s ability to pump blood around the body to nourish the body cells. Coronary artery diseases (CAD) and heart attacks are results of blockage of arteries that supply blood to heart muscles. The heart muscles starve and die causing a heart attack. CAD and heart attacks form only some of the causes of heart failure,” said Jabir.

Dr M K Das, Dr Soumitra Kumar, Dr Ambuj Roy, Dr P P Mohanan and Dr K P Markose addressed the inaugural session of the conference.