One Stroke Death In India Every Four Minutes: Expert

New Delhi: With two celebrities, Sushmita Sen and Satish Kaushik suffering a heart attack and the latter succumbing to it, the focus is once again on the medical problem.

India suffers at least one stroke death every four minutes, said neurology experts at the All India Institute Of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) on Friday. According to Dr MV Padma Srivastava, Professor of Neurology at AIIMS said that “Stroke is the second most common cause of death in India. About 1,85,000 stroke cases are reported every year in India with nearly one stroke every 40 seconds and one stroke death every 4 minutes.”

Speaking at an event, Dr Padma said, “Stroke is the second most common cause of death in India. About 1,85,000 stroke cases are reported every year in India with nearly one stroke every 40 seconds and one stroke death every 4 minutes.”

Global Burden of Diseases 2010 (GBD)

• India bore most of the burden of stroke with 68.6 per cent of the incidence of stroke, 70.9 per cent of stroke deaths and 77.7 per cent of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) lost.
• With many living in poor resource settings, these figures are alarming for the country.
• 5.2 million (31 per cent) strokes were witnessed in children, aged less than 20 years.
• The stroke burden is greater in India and more so among younger and middle-aged people.

Hospital facilities

“In spite of these alarming figures, many Indian hospitals lack the necessary infrastructure and organization required to treat stroke patients quickly and efficiently and do not deliver adequate stroke care. The stroke services across the country especially in public sector hospitals is deficient in many aspects,” said the expert.

Dr Padma added that one of the solutions is to adopt telestroke models in poor resource settings. “Implementation of telemedicine/telestroke facilities is an important step for bridging the economically and geographically challenged and underprivileged sections of the society.”