Mangalore: Father Muller Medical College hosts Conference on Electro-cardiology

By John V Tauro
Bellevision Media Network

Mangalore, 29 Sep 2013: The union minister for road, transport and highways, Oscar Fernandes inaugurated the Mid-term ISECON 2013 conference hosted by Father Muller Medical College (FMMC) in association with Indian Society of Electro-cardiology (ISE) at FMMC decennial hall, here on Saturday September 28.

Speaking on the occasion, the minister Oscar Fernandes said, ‘No machine can be comparable to heart, it mainly depends on a person’s lifestyle. Through this conference, we can share experiences and knowledge, and most importantly, students can get idea on how to manage the heart,’ said minister Oscar.

The minister Oscar further said, ‘In our country, there are several people who get diseases due to malnutrition and on the other hand there are people who get diseases by eating more food as well,’ said minister Oscar.

 

The decision has been taken already to covert ESI hospitals into medical colleges and in this regard, 30 new medical colleges and 12 post graduate colleges will be established, informed minister Oscar.

The city’s senior cardiologist Dr A V Shetty said, ‘ECG is one of the oldest equipment used to detect heart diseases and has a history of over 100 years. Even then, ECG has not lost its charm as it is a cost-effective and one can do over 100 ECGs per day,’ said Dr Shetty.

Terming heart disease as a major killer, Dr Shetty said treatment has improved over the years and the mortality rate has decreased to 5 to 6 percent from 30 percent. ‘I am sure it will improve much in coming days,’ added Dr Shetty.
‘In ECG, people often make mistakes but conferences like these highlights our mistakes so that we do not repeat them," he said, adding, "The quality of life in our country is lagging behind compared to other countries and attention needs to be given in this direction,’ said Dr Shetty.

Father Muller Charitable Institutions director Fr Patrick Rodrigues, in his presidential address said, ‘At present, the nation is deeply concerned about the economy as rupee value is falling. But health of the people poses equal danger to the economy.
As per various studies, non-communicable diseases have incurred an expenditure of Rs 6.2 trillion dollars in the year 2012-13. The non-communicable diseases can impact the economy, create burden and create immense pressure on the public health expenditure,’ said Fr Patrick.

‘A study by the World Economic Forum and Harvard Health Institute states that 12.5 percent reduction in heart disease could create savings of 25 billion dollars,’ added Fr Patrick.

Stating that this conference mainly aimed at creating awareness among people, Fr Patrick said, ‘We think of high-end procedures to treat heart diseases, when even a normal ECG could be used to address the problem, and hence awareness should be created in this regard,’ said Fr Patrick.

MLA J R Lobo, Oscar’s wife Blossom Fernandes, FMMC dean Dr Jayaprakash Alva, Father Muller Charitable Institutions administrator Fr Richard Coelho, FMMC administrator Fr Rudolph Ravi D’Sa, ISE president Dr S B Gupta, honorary secretary Dr Amit Vora, organizing secretary Dr H Prabhakar, FMMC head of department of medicine Dr Venkatesh and others were present on the occasion.