Al Ahli Hospital officials touring the stand of awareness activities held to promote cardiac health on Thursday at the hospital lobby.
Awareness activities aimed at promoting cardiac health and combating heart disease while also urging residents to know their vital health statistics such as blood pressure and weight, were held at the Al Ahli Hospital on Thursday.
The aim of the event was to help people discover what their heart health is like and to provide them with information on how it can be improved.
The event held in recognition of the World Heart Day which is marked annually on September 29, reminding people of the importance of maintaining a healthy heart.
Khalid Al Emadi, the Chief Executive Officer of Medicare and Al Ahli Hospital, Jamal Saleh Hammad, Al Ahli Hospital Deputy CEO, and Director of Projects and MediCare, Dr Abdulazeem Abdul Wahab, Medical Director, Al Ahli Hospital and Dr Abdurrazzak Gehani, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Chairman of the Al Ahli Heart Centre were present at the inauguration of awareness activities.
A collection of stands at the Al Ahli Hospital lobby helped visitors to test about factors such as blood pressure, pulse, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar and cholesterol level, and how the data relate to an individual’s age and gender that influence cardiac health. Visitors whose test findings indicate that they are at risk of heart problems were advised to undergo further tests to measure the level of risk. Visitors were also advised on how to prevent heart disease as well as the provision of education and information on lifestyle choices for good heart health.
“The World Heart Day is significant to the Al Ahli Hospital because we are promoting better health care for the community. So we see it as a responsibility to spread awareness by telling that prevention is better than cure. We celebrate this day by offering free tests for people. Some people look healthy but they may have high blood pressure or may be overweight. Even if you look healthy, if you practice wrong diet, can cause high cholesterol, blood pressure, and cause heart attack any time. So screening and following a healthy lifestyle is very important,” Saleh Hammad told The Peninsula.
World Heart Day is the biggest global awareness-raising platform for cardiovascular disease (CVD) which includes heart disease and stroke. Its aim is to help people live longer, better, more heart-healthy lives. CVD is the world’s number one killer and is responsible for 17.5 million premature deaths, and by 2030 this is expected to rise to 23 million. The good news is that we can help prevent heart disease by making just a few simple daily changes, like eating and drinking more healthily, getting more exercise and stopping smoking.
