The Hindu : Kerala News : Death due to heart ailment on the rise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 25, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Death due to heart ailment on the rise

By Radhakrishnan Kuttoor

Pilgrims climbing the Neelimala on way to the Sabarimala Sannidhanam.

PATHANAMTHITTA, DEC. 24. Death toll due to heart ailments at Sabarimala has reportedly gone up during the ongoing Mandalam pilgrim season when compared to the previous pilgrim season. Official records showed that 15 pilgrims had died of heart ailments at Sabarimala during the past 38 days.

Bhaskar, 26, of Vizhupparam Tirukoviloor in Tamil Nadu, died of a heart attack while climbing the hills on the traditional trekking path in the wee hours of today.

The Karimala and Kallidamkunnu areas do not have any healthcare facilities and the fellow-pilgrims had to carry the body to Kalaketty from where the Ayyappa Seva Sanghom volunteers took the body to the Government Hospital at Kanjirappally.

The body was handed over to Bhaskar's relatives in the afternoon. This is the second death due to heart attack on the Karimala trekking path in the past four days. Another Tamil pilgrim, Mangakarasi, 61, of Keerpalayam, too died of heart ailment at the Government Hospital at Pampa today, according to hospital sources.

The Devaswom Minister, K.C. Venugopal, at a meeting with officials of various departments at Pampa on Thursday, had directed the Health Department to take immediate steps to provide basic healthcare facility at Karimala.

No power supply

The Additional Director of Health Services, P.K. Sivaraman, told The Hindu that the absence of electricity was a main hurdle for setting up a medical centre at Karimala. The department could not provide even the minimum cardiac-care facility of an ECG machine at a place where there is no power supply, he said.

Dr. Sivaraman said that the department was exploring the possibility of setting up a medical centre at Karimala with the help of the Forest Department. The Forest Department was trying to facilitate a generator in the interior forests to electrify the proposed medical centre, he said.

OP cases up

Meanwhile, Aji Surendran, Nodal Officer, said that the four Government healthcare centres at Sabarimala recorded not less than 1,07,000 outpatient cases during the past 38 days against the previous year's figure of below 50,000.

Dr. Surendran said that early initiation of treatment for cardiac patients was a problem at Karimala. According to him, a jeep transport facility should be provided at Azhutha so as to minimise the delay in transportation of the patients to the nearest hospital.

Dr. Sivaraman also said that pilgrims above 50 years should undergo a thorough medical check-up before undertaking the arduous trek to Sabarimala.

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