aims to raise health awareness and emphasize early detection
Dr. Muhammad Ibrahim Kurdi, Cardiovascular and Catheterization Consultant, Head of the Adult Cardiology Department at Prince Salman Center for Cardiac Medicine and Surgery, Chairman of the Campaign Organizing Committee for "Riyadh", on the occasion of the launch of the activities of the first national awareness campaign for heart health, that there is no accurate and complete study that studied the incidence of heart disease In the Kingdom, indicating that the campaign aims to educate the community about heart disease and includes an early examination program that provides information that may be the beginning of research to find out what the true percentage in society is, as previous studies looked at individuals who presented to hospitals with symptoms, indicating that through this campaign will be Examination of people who are in good health and do not suffer from heart disease, explaining that they want to know the real percentage in society and not in hospitals, and by completing this campaign, you will give them knowledge of the causes in the Saudi society. Then they determine the percentage and compare it with Western societies.
"Al-Riyadh" had the following dialogue with Dr. Kurdi, and the following was
@ Recent studies have indicated that men are more likely to have heart disease than women, but they are more than men in the incidence of deaths. What are the real reasons for this?
This information is correct. Men in general are more likely to suffer from heart disease at an early age, and women are more likely to have heart disease at an advanced age, but through studies it has been observed that when women develop heart disease, the death rate is higher than men compared to the same age between women and men, and this is due to several reasons. Of which.
The late diagnosis of women, which made us think of going out in the campaign to the commercial complexes, as most of the shopping mall visitors are women.
That women by nature be on the one hand the arteries are smaller in size and thus the narrowing is more when there are smaller arteries there is a higher rate of narrowing and if the artery percentage is 50%, but the artery is a small size.
In women, obesity is high and there is no health awareness until now. Society does not realize that heart disease is the number one cause of death for women, not breast cancer diseases, etc.
Was the scarcity of centers specialized in treating heart disease a major reason for the increasing growth rates of this disease?
It is not a reason for the increase, but the reason for the lack of early screening programs, as early examination of the disease can be treated more effectively and avoiding complications, and this helps to provide better treatment and we as a health body, our satisfaction with the treatment is higher when we treat the patient in its early stages.
@ We always suffer from the absence of the educational awareness aspect to what do you attribute that if we know that this aspect has a major role in reducing the risk of heart disease?
The absence of incentives in the community leads to the absence of health education, and through this campaign we provided the elements of motivation through the presence of the doctor, the pharmacist, the health educator, and the citizen''s therapeutic nutritionist. These elements, when available, raise questions for the citizen and resident.
@ What is the role of health institutions in spreading health awareness and reducing the severity of this disease?
There are major roles for each center. We at Prince Salman Center, as I mentioned earlier, we felt this need from the first day, when we returned from studying and practicing medicine in Canada and America, we noticed the difference between Western societies and the Saudi society, and the most important of these differences was the level of health awareness and early examination.
@ What are the best ways to avoid heart disease?
Prevention methods include several stages, so early diagnosis or early examination is a very important part, but at the same time early treatment, follow-up and periodic examination through which the disease is diagnosed or causes that may lead to disease are diagnosed and prevented, and this leads to a decrease in the percentage of heart disease in the future.
Q: Tell us about the efforts and plans of Prince Salman Cardiac Center in the fields of health awareness and education in heart diseases and the treatment aspect?
The current stage is the stage of the awareness campaign, through which we will provide a phone to be contacted for patients (citizens and residents) who are considered to have a high percentage of causes or factors that may lead to heart disease, and Prince Salman Center will provide a clinic called "Heart Protection" through which this will be followed up Cases and their treatment and avoiding the causes leading to heart disease This is the first stage, which is the stage of Riyadh, there are other stages and Prince Salman Center is in the process of planning for these stages, as the campaign will move to other areas for the work of this campaign and the early examination program in addition to the presence of specialized clinics in the hospitals of the Ministry of Health, which are part Integral from this center.
A final word at the end of this meeting
In conclusion, I would like to extend my sincere thanks and gratitude to His Excellency the Minister of Health, Dr. Hamad Al-Mani, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of King Fahd Medical City, Dr. Mansour Al-Hawassi, and thanks also to the Executive Director General of the Medical City, Dr. Abdullah Al-Amro for their support for us in this national project and for their encouragement to us to continue to establish these awareness programs And embody it on the ground.
I would also like to thank "Riyadh" for its media sponsorship of this national campaign.
