ISLAMABAD: Heart diseases are the leading cause of death in adults between the ages of 40 and 60. However, heart attacks can be avoided with a kit containing medicines worth Rs50, said senior cardiologist retired Maj Gen Dr Azhar Mahmood Kayani.

During a lecture at the National University of Modern Languages on Tuesday, Dr Kayani, who is the chief executive of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology, said heart attacks can be avoided if one carries Disprin and Angisid tablets and Deponit NTS skin patches.

“If one feels a tightness and pain in the chest, radiating to the left arm or both sides of the neck, accompanied by sweating and uneasiness, one is likely to be going through a heart attack,” he said.

He said those with symptoms of a heart attack should keep an Angisid tablet under the tongue, chew a Dispirin and peel off and stick a Deponit NTS skin patch on the left side of the chest. He said these items cost about Rs50 to Rs55 and can be easily administered.

Cardiologist says everyone over 40 should carry Disprin and Angisid tablets and Deponit NTS skin patches

“It is advised that everyone over the age of 40 should make a kit with these medicines and carry it with them.

Talking to Dawn later, the doctor said the Deponit NTS skin patch, which costs Rs30 is not available in the market and that people buy it from abroad.

“I have spoken to the secretary Ministry of Health and asked him to help make the skin patch available on the market. The medicine in the kit absorbs in the skin and helps remove the blood clot,” he said.

“If the company making the skin patch is saying it cannot produce it because it is not financially feasible, other products of the same company should be banned because it should not stop producing life saving medicines,” he added.

He said a large number of people die of heart attacks due to a lack of awareness.

“If people have this kit on them, their lives can be saved. I have being giving this message for three years but most people are still not aware of how three simple medicines can save their lives. Heart attack patients are brought in to hospitals on carts and at times they are brought to the hospital an hour after they have a heart attack. In most cases, they die before they can reach the hospital,” he said.

“I can say that people who use the kit will be completely out of danger when they reach the hospital because they are given the same treatment in the cardiac care centre. People can have heart attacks on the road or other places where a hospital is not near,” he added.

Dr Kayani said that the World Health Organisation had contacted him after some of his lectures, saying they wanted to use the kit in African developing countries, where the problem of unawareness is just as acute as in Pakistan.

Asked about the side effects of the medicines, Dr Kayani said that those experiencing symptoms of a heart attack should use them without hesitation because there are no side effects, even if the patient was not undergoing a heart attack.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2017