'Indian Has The Expertise And Technology But Delivery Of Care Is A Huge Challenge'

Recently, representatives from the Cleveland Clinic visited Indian experts for a knowledge exchange. Raelene Kambli catches up Dr Umesh Khot, Vice Chairman, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, COO, Section of Clinical Cardiology, Cleveland Clinic, to understand his perspective on the opportunities and threats in cardiac science for India

- Raelene Kambli

Excerpt....

Brief us about the global Cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden.

The CVD epidemic started off in the US and Europe in the 1950s which started to slow down with the availability of better treatment but the explosion has shifted to lower and middle income countries in particular, India. The highest risk of heart disease in the world rests with the Indian population. We are seeing an explosion of heart diseases both heart attacks and heart failures and the most dramatic things is that it happens at a very young age. The average age of heart disease in India is almost 10-20 years younger than the people in the US.

Indians are genetically predisposed to heart disease. Can you explain this further?

This is not completely well understood. Indians are very sensitive to smaller weight gains than an American population. So if an Indian would gain around 10 kg of weight, that person would suddenly become diabetic as compared to a caucasian population. There are a lot of theories surrounding this subject and scientists are still researching on the genetic connection of heart diseases among Indians.

What is your opinion on heart transplants?