The Hindu Business Line : Campaign in Pune to raise awareness about heart diseases

WHERE there is a will there is a way is what third year mass communications students from Pune Ms Ruchi Agrawal and Ms Supriya Saxena seem to have set out to prove.

These youngsters have kicked off `Care for heart', a comprehensive week-long campaign designed to draw attention to the fact that by 2010 cardiovascular diseases will be the leading cause of death in India according to the World Health Organisation.

The youngsters plan to ensure that the event grabs eyeballs and the attention of Puneiites in large numbers. Over the next seven days denizens of the city will be deluged with information on every aspect of a healthy lifestyle, designed to keep the heart in top condition.

On the anvil, for those interested in having their heart ticking away healthily are number of offerings - one prominent multiplex in the city will have a stall which will give free nutrition and diet plans to those suffering from heart disease and those wanting to avoid it.

Prominent city cardiologist Dr Shirish Hiremath has undertaken to operate a round-the-clock counselling service for patients calling in with doubts and complaints related to the heart while yet others have volunteered to give free check-ups to people walking in.

The duo have roped in prominent Puneiites such as Venkateshwara Hatcheries CEO, Ms Anuradha Desai, Ruby Hall clinic founder, Dr K.B. Grant, city mayor Ms Dipti Chaudhary and others to support their cause in the last few days.

"All of us spend a lot of time and effort on looking good but neglect tending to our heart which is just expected to carry out burden and tick away without any nurturing," says Ms Agrawal.

Over the next week the a `mobile heart care van' will also do the rounds of the city, stopping over at residential colonies where a team of doctors from the Ruby Hall clinic would talk to groups of residents about the need to look after the heart.

Literature will be provided to people so that they can, in turn, spread the word around about the values of maintaining a disease free heart.

The week-long event will come to a close with a celebrity trek up Sinhagad fort, some 30 km from here. The idea is to tell heart patients that it is possible to lead a perfectly normal life despite being pre-treated for heart ailments.

Actress Riya Sen and Bollywood hunk Sanjay Dutt are expected to lead the groups of heart patients who will participate in the trek.

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