JKCI to host heart checkup camp
THE Jakaya Kikwete Cardiac Institute (JKCI) Dar Group will organise a two-day medical camp for sensitising citizens on taking precautionary measures against heart diseases.
JKCI’s Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Tulizo Sanga, who coordinates the programme, told the ‘Daily News’ on Tuesday this week that the camp will offer free services from September 2 to 3 this year.
He said the checkups will be carried out at the institute in Dar es Salaam with a team of cardiac surgeons and nutritionists and it will also involve other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as diabetes.
Dr Sanga, who also doubles as Assistant Director of the JKCI, welcomed all citizens to show up for the screening, so as to know their heart status.
He said the checkups come as a response to alarming lives loss due to heart related diseases such as hypertension which is among the leading cause of death both in rural and urban areas across the country though some deaths go unnoticed because people do not have an attitude of going for checkups.
“In every 10 adults in urban areas, five to six people suffer from hypertension while in rural areas three people in every 10 people,” Dr Sanga said.
He cited poor diet intake, lack of physical fitness and depression as the major factors behind an increased heart disease in the country.
Dr Sanga said the checkup will go alongside education to people to understand symptoms and means to contain diseases.
“The cure for heart diseases is very complicated especially when patients delay to see doctors. The citizens can avoid incurring high costs if diseases are diagnosed early and start treatment on time, we encourage people to go for checkups at least two times annually,” Dr Sanga said.
He said this year’s medical camp is meant to shed light on heart protection in the country, hinting that the next one will be conducted in other regions of the country.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) an estimated 46 per cent of adults with hypertension are unaware that they have the condition.
