30% cops who die on duty; die due to heart disease: Mumbai Police

​On the eve of World Heart Day, on 29th September, CM Fadnavis and Maharashtra Government launch first ever, massive “Heart Health” screening program, to ‘care for the Police Personnel who care for Mumbai,

In a first of its kind initiative, the Maharashtra government has announced a collaboration with Asian Heart Institute, India’s No. 1 cardiac care hospital, to provide free heart health assessment to thousands of Mumbai police personnel.

The program is being spearheaded by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. To kick off the initiative, a first batch of1000 members of Mumbai Police underwent heart health screening at Naigaon and CPR Training was given to 120 members of police at Asian Heart Institute.

Dr. Ramakanta Panda, India’s top Cardiac Surgeon and his team of doctors, including Dr.Vijay Dsilva, Dr. Nilesh Gautam, Dr.Santosh Dora and Dr.Tilak Suvarna, and medical professionals have chalked out a schedule to cover the ‘health screening’ of 5000 policemen in phase 1.

A total of 5000 Mumbaikars, including 1000 police personnel will also receive CPR training.

Hon. CM Devendra Fadnavis who launched the program expressed his heartfelt gratitude to Asian Heart Institute, “Asian Heart Institute and Dr. Ramakanta Panda, have picked up a much needed cause. Prevention is key, especially because in a city like Mumbai, every day can be a new challenge. Im particularly happy that ‘digital records’ will be created for these police personnel. Asian Heart Institute is making a beginning by screening 5000 of the police force, above the age of 40,and I invite other hospitals to also come forward and offer such proposals for departments like the Mumbai Police.”

As a part of the program, the following tests are being conducted.

• Height, Weight, Blood Pressure
• ECG
• Complete Blood Count
• Urine Routine
• HBA1C
• Cholesterol
• Triglyceride
• HDL
• LDL
• Serum Creatine
• Uric Acid
• LFT
• Doctors Consultation​

These results will be put into digital records within 4 working days. Police personnel who are identified as having heart risk will be shortlisted and provided a Stress Test.

Accepting the Hon. CM’s comments, Dr.Ramakanta Panda, Vice Chairman and MD, Asian Heart Institute said, “10 to 15 million patients die of heart disease in India. Indians are thrice as likely to get heart disease, as compared to the west. To add to that, we have 3 times more population than the US and the US spent 20 bn $ last year on heart care. Thats a lot of money. India has to focus on prevention, because we cannot afford this kind of a healthcare burden. Another aspect is that 70% of heart attacks happen at home. A large number of these people die- almost 90%. If you revive the person immediately - through CPR- you can save a life.”

One third of the US population is trained in CPR. The Asian Heart Institute is planning to train 5000 Mumbaikars this year, including 1000 police personnel, and 25000 Mumbaikars over time.

Sonal Panda, Director, Asian Heart Institute, launched a CPR app and asked volunteers to come forward and train for the same. The idea is to create a network of volunteers trained in reviving the heart through CPR, who – through the app – will be able to help at the time of a cardiac emergency

Shri. Sanjay Saxena, Jt CP Crime, standing in for the Hon. Comm of Police, who was away, shared, “ For the last 14 years, Asian Heart Institute has been recognised the world over as an exceptional institute. This initiative of caring for those who take care of Mumbai is comendable. Long duty hours and no fixed eating schedule implies that Mumbai’s police personnel are not able to keep good health. “

Chief Minister Fadnavis and Dr. Panda both were clear to cover as many people as possible, over a a long term engagement, with heart risk mitigation and heart health awareness being the key focus.

Giving a valedictory note, Anup Kumar Singh, Joint CP confirmed that almost 30% of deaths among police personnel, while on duty are due to cardiac problems. He stressed that this "Heart Health" initiative was timely and that the police personnel would benefit immensely from the same.