‘30 per cent of Nigerians have heart disease’

Over 30 per cent of Nigerians are currently battling with heart diseases.

A Professor of Medicine and Consultants Cardiologist, at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Jane Ajuluchukwu, disclosed this yesterday to mark the World Heart Day.

She said her position was based on a recent research conducted in Lagos, adding that many heart conditions degenerate into heart failure due to lack of proper medical check-up.

She said: “The heart doesn’t just fail and results to death in one day. It must have been giving some signs before the failure would take place.”

Ajuluchukwu explained that heart failure could be controlled if a person controls the risk factors that lead to it. She listed the conditions to check heart failure as controlled high blood pressure, eating nutritious foods, not smoking, doing exercise to stretch the body and paying more attention to health.

The cardiologist enjoined Nigerians to take the issue of prevention more important, as life is irreplaceable. She advised that the moment one’s body system begins to give bad signs, he should not hesitate to visit a doctor, because there is a saying that health is wealth.

She urged government to provide facilities in institutions and hospitals to give proper treatment to patients.

Another Professor of Medicine and Consultant Cardiologist, Amam Mbakwem, said celebrating the World Heart Day was to remind the whole people of how precious their hearts are to bodies.

She added that air population is among the great risks for heart failure and urged people to be more cautions of smoke from cars and generators.

“Being a male is also a specific factor for heart failure, while pregnancy is a risk factor for woman. Also, age causes high risk to heart failure,” she explained.

Mbakwem urged government and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to subsidise heart drugs to help reduce the expense on medical bills. This, she said would make the drugs to be affordable for patients.

The Chief Executive Officer, Occupational Health and Safety Managers, Ehi Iden, said: “Heart failure disease is preventable. It only requires that we pay more attention to our health system.”