Mission Delhi ups heart attack patients' survival chances

New Delhi: It takes just 10 minutes to treat someone under the Mission Delhi programme, started by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) along with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

The Mission Delhi aims to provide care to STEMI, a very serious type of heart attack, patients. A STEMI patient requires treatment within the golden hour (90 minutes) of the onset of symptoms and providing clot buster therapy within 30 minutes.

"Just rang up at 14:43 and within ten minutes the team of doctors arrived with their kits. We were all surprised and amazed with the prompt service. We are happy and appreciate people who thought of this initiative," said one of the patients treated by the staff under Mission Delhi.

Heart diseases are the leading cause of death in the country. "Ischemic heart disease and stroke account for over 80 per cent of deaths both in rural and urban areas. We need to save precious lives by increasing awareness regarding STEMI symptoms and reaching the patients at the earliest," said Dr. Ramakrishnan, a leading cardiologist at AIIMS.

The heart is like a motor that pumps blood to the body as well as the heart through three pipes -- the coronary arteries. If any of these pipes is blocked by a clot, the heart tissue beyond that area dies. In the initial hours, clot busters can restore the blood flow and stop the damage to heart tissue. If the treatment is provided in the first 30 minutes, complete recovery is possible," said Dr. Praveen Aggarwal from the Department of Emergency Medicine at AIIMS.

The motorcycle ambulance system moved easily through traffic jams and offer timely and quality care led by consultants at AIIMS to patients at their residence itself.