With one death every 4 mins, stroke second biggest killer in India: Neurologist
Leading neurologist MV Padma Srivastava has said stroke is the second commonest cause of death in India, which records one death from stroke every four minutes.
She was speaking at an oration organised at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital to celebrate International Women’s Day when she gave these figures. Srivastava’s oration was on “stroke care and its primary preventive methods in poor resource settings in India.”
“According to the Global Burden of Diseases (GBD), India bore most of the burden of stroke, with 68.6% incidence of stroke, 70.9% stroke deaths, and 77.7% disability adjusted life years (DALYs) lost,” Srivastava said.
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Hospitals lack infrastructure
“Stroke is the second commonest cause of death in India. About 1,85,000 strokes occur every year in India with nearly one stroke every 40 seconds and one stroke death every four minutes,” she said, noting that the figures were alarming for India.
“Another alarming and important finding of the GBD 2010 stroke project is that 5.2 million (31%) strokes were in (people) aged less than 20 years. The stroke burden is greater in India and more so among younger and middle-aged people,” Srivastava said.
Despite these alarming figures, Srivastava pointed out many Indian hospitals lack the necessary infrastructure and organisation to treat stroke patients quickly and efficiently and do not deliver adequate stroke care.
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Other talks
The event also included inspirational talks by three distinguished faculty members of the hospital.
Dr Jayashree Sood, chairperson, Institute of Anesthesiology, spoke on how to maintain the balance between work and life, especially for women. Prof. Kusum Verma, adviser, Cytopathology, shared her experiences mitigating professional challenges, while Dr Neelam Kler, chairperson of the Department of Neonatology, talked about her belief in the saying “never say never”.
The programme was hosted by the department of research.
(With agency inputs)
