BENGALURU: Actor Puneeth Rajkumar’s death at 46 due to cardiac arrest has triggered panic among youngsters and even elders, who have been making a beeline for hospitals for cardiac checks.
“At Jayadeva Hospital in Bengaluru alone, we saw 1,500 OPD patients on November 1 till afternoon and in Mysuru there were another 1,000 patients. Normally, we see about 75 cases in an emergency, but on Sunday we saw 550,” said Dr CN Manjunath, director of Jayadeva Hospital.
Doctors across several hospitals agreed that it was not only youngsters, but even the elderly felt they had to go for a quick check-up. Dr Pradeep Kumar D, Senior Consultant – Interventional Cardiology, Aster CMI Hospital, said, “There have been at least a three-fold increase to the emergency room as well as OPD. People are coming with complaints of chest pain, and evaluations, such as ECG, echocardiogram, TMT tests and cardiac enzymes like troponin, are done. Some enquire about coronary CT angiography.”
It was only a knee-jerk reaction for many, while several patients had only psychosomatic symptoms, the doctors said.
“There were many patients who didn’t have any cardiac-related issues, but anyway came with complaints. This is mostly panic that has set in after watching TV continuously on Puneeth’s death and also due to viral messages on WhatsApp asking people not to ignore or neglect such pains,” Dr Manjunath explained.
While most visitors were in their 40s, Dr Abhijit Kulkarni, Cardiologist, Apollo Hospitals, said, “It is not just now. Even after the deaths of Chiranjeevi Sarja and Siddharth Shukla, we saw such a rush. On the night Puneeth died, our emergency was filled with patients coming in with cardiac-related complaints,” he said.
However, Dr Rajpal Singh, Director and Interventional Cardiologist, Fortis Hospitals, said, “Although a declared public holiday, I had a busy, full OPD on Monday with more than half of them being walk-in young patients concerned about their heart condition.”
Doctors said such a panic reaction won’t help. Instead, people should go for a thorough yearly check-up and maintain a healthy heart. One should eat a healthy diet, maintain an ideal body weight, stop smoking and exercise regularly.
“Moderate-intensity exercise, like brisk walking or jogging, for 45 minutes a day at least six days a week is recommended. People doing more rigorous exercises should get themselves evaluated by doctors with an ECG/echo and, if required, a TMT,” said Dr Pradeep said.
