Indiana Hospital cardiologists sponsor AICD to save a life
Mangaluru: A team of cardiologists led by Dr Yusuf Kumble sponsored a Rs 5 lakh worth free Automatic Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (AICD) to save a 70 year old patient’s life at Indiana Hospital & Heart Institute.
Jailani Kharuri, a resident of New Colony, Purvarga, Bhatkal, Karnataka was admitted under the supervision of Dr Yusuf Kumble after complaints about suffering from repeated episodes of loss of consciousness. After various tests like ECHO, EP study, etc. the cause for the episodes was determined to be a dysfunction of the Left Ventricle (EF-30%). He was found to have a life threatening ventricular tachycardia arrhythmia, which can cause sudden cardiac death. The only life saving treatment available is implantation of an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD).
The cost of the device including hospitalization cost reaches upto Rs. 5 lakh. Since Jailani Kharvi and his family are not financially strong and are unable to raise such a huge amount for his treatment, he decided to get discharged from the hospital last month without completing the treatment. The doctors and staff of Indiana Hospital tried to help him by appealing to the public for financial help through the media. Arshad Motisham and Isbul Battul came forward to help him.
However last week, Jailani suffered a sudden heart failure and was admitted to a local hospital at Bhatkal and due to lack of the necessary equipment, was later shifted to Indiana. Rather than waiting for complete financial help from the public, the doctors decided to install ICD device on their own funds to save his life. Dr Kumble, his colleagues Dr Mansoor and Dr Shivashankar, and the management of Indiana Hospital pooled in the necessary funds, purchased the AICD from Bangalore and proceeded with the implant.
An AICD is used to monitor the heart rate and is implanted into patients with erratic heart rates. Depending upon the heart rate, it speeds up or slows down the heart. When life threatening arrhythmias or an abnormally high heart rate is detected, the AICD gives the heart a shock to stabilise it.
Replying to a question on why a 70 year old patient was selected, while there are many others, Dr Kumble said that many people have a wrong impression that once you reach the age of 70, 80, etc., then you are already near to death. “Some patients have terminal illnesses when they get older, and we know that such patients will not survive for more than 2-3 years. But if all other systems are normal, and the patient has a treatable disease then they can survive for 25 years more. One of my patients was a 92-year-old and my brother, who is also a doctor, had referred her. She had got a heart attack and since she was old, many doctors including me thought that there was not much to do. But on my brother’s insistence, I treated her and she went on to live for 8 more years. It’s not just common people who associate old age cases as those where there’s nothing much to do, but many doctors too think the same way. A general doctor may look at a terminal cancer patient and question why treat other illnesses, but the cancer doctor will stand by his patient as he knows his patients well. Never underestimate age. Manmohan Singh has undergone bypass surgery twice and he’s 83; Achuthanandan is 93 years old and still active in the political front.”
Jailani and his family thanked Dr Yusuf Kumble and his team for their dedication towards saving patients life and providing best care with a new lease of life to him.
Agreed. Age is just a number. Functional age is different from chronological age, Other factors should be considered