Stroke affects 54,890 every year in Assam :GNRC

GUWAHATI: On the World Stroke Day, GNRC Hospitals urged citizens to care for their health and spread awareness about stroke, apart from emphasizing the importance of recognizing the signs of stroke and seeking treatment quickly.

In a press release, the hospital said stroke is a major cause of mortality worldwide. GNRC, through various community engagement programmes conducted as components of GNRC’s ongoing Affordable Health Mission, seeks to facilitate ‘Healthy Assam’ by creating awareness about early signs of stroke – F.A.S.T. (Face drooping; Arm weakness; Speech slurred; Time to call an ambulance), to alleviate human suffering.

Around 80 million people living in the world today have experienced a stroke and over 50 million survivors live with some form of permanent disability as a result, the release said, and added that the prevalence of heart disease and stroke has increased by over 50% from 1990 to 2016 in India.

According to data from World Health Organization, 56.9 million individuals died worldwide in 2016 and more than half (54%) were due to the top 10 causes. Ischaemic heart disease and stroke are the world’s biggest killers, accounting for a combined 15.2 million deaths in 2016. These diseases have remained the leading causes of death globally in the last 15 years. 54,890 persons are afflicted by stroke every year in Assam and more than a lakh in the Northeast, according to a GNRC study. Dr. Nomal Chandra Borah, Founder, GNRC, said: “On the occasion of World Stroke Day, let us join our hands to fight against stroke. Common risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, smoking, and high cholesterol are quite prevalent and inadequately controlled; mainly because of inadequate awareness.”