By Puteri Othman
GOMBAK, 27 April 2016: A cardiologist from Institut Jantung Negara (National Heart Institute), Dr Beni Isman Rusani said that in every hour, five Malaysians might be at risk of getting a heart attack.
“A heart attack is the number 1 killer disease in Malaysia, although it could happen to anyone regardless of age. The risk increases with age, male gender, having diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and cigarette smoking,” said Dr Beni.
The talk was organised by the Department of Communication in collaboration with students from Organisational Communication case studies class in conjunction with Health Awareness Campaign. The special talk was given by Dr. Beni Isman specifically focused on heart attack due to high rate of Malaysians diagnosed with this killer disease.
In his talk, he emphasised that heart failure is caused by heart attack, and not the other way round. A heart attack occurs when the flow of oxygenated blood becomes blocked and the heart did not receive enough amount of oxygen. Heart attack frequently happens as a result of coronary heart disease, also known as CHD, a condition when there is a plaque substance built up inside the arteries that causes narrowing of the blood vessels and impair blood flow carrying oxygenated and nutrients.
The plaque are made of fats that come from all the unhealthy eating habits. Other than exposing what is heart attack, Dr. Beni also managed to share a few tips on what to do when someone around you have a heart attack.
“The first thing you need to keep in mind is to not get panic, check for the victim’s pulse and breathing. If there is no pulse and breathing detected, quickly dial 999 and perform chest compression. Continue with the chest pumping until help arrives,” Dr. Beni said.
He also stated that “do not worry to step up and perform CPR to victims who have cardiac arrest.”***