Cardiac centres to be set up in rural areas

The main purpose of the project is to check the mortality rate of patients particularly in rural areas who suffer from cardiac arrests. According to a senior official of the Health Department, a cardiac centre would be set up in all the remote areas of the districts where there is no proper health facility.

It has often been seen that it takes a long time to bring a cardiac patient to the district and sub-divisional hospitals due to poor connectivity. Their conditions often become critical due to a delay in transporting them from far-off areas of the districts.

Transporting a patient to the hospital is very crucial in case he is suffering a heart attack. If he/she can be put under proper medication, chances of survival become pretty high. Keeping this in mind, the state Health Department is chalking out an elaborate plan to construct cardiac centres in the districts.

"The plan is at an initial stage now. A study would be carried out by our department officials in all the districts assessing the situation at the ground level and how the project could be implemented in order to ensure that people living in remote areas can the reap the benefits of the proposed project," a senior official of the Health Department said on condition of anonymity.

He further added that a survey will be done to find out which districts can be chosen for running the project on a pilot basis.

There will be adequate facilities and infrastructure to provide initial treatment to a patient suffering a cardiac arrest. Once these patients are given primary treatment they can be shifted to the nearby district hospital or the sub-divisional hospitals.

Due to lack of primary treatment and also due to delay in transportation, the health condition of patients suffering from a heart attack often becomes serious. If cardiac centres can be set up in those areas, they would prove to be immensely beneficial.

"We are yet to formulate the policy on how many such centres would be set up in each district. The new project is on cards after the state government has seen a considerable amount of success in checking infant mortality rate," the official maintained.

It can be mentioned here that Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya on various occasions said that the infant mortality rate in the state has gone down following a major revamp in health infrastructure in Bengal.