Five years ago, Whatsapp was just another communication tool for Dr Padmanabha Kamath. But, this interventional cardiologist from Mangaluru still remembers an incident which shook his thoughts and forced him to start a new WhatsApp group, ‘Cardiology at Doorsteps’ (CAD).
He was distraught when he read the news of a young auto-rickshaw driver in a remote village in Chikmagalur, who suffered a heart attack and passed away since doctors couldn’t make a diagnosis on time. “He was 32-year-old, had two small children, and was the sole breadwinner of his family. The only reason for his death was a delay in diagnosis,” says Dr Kamath. This incident made Dr Kamath think out of the box. He was determined to do something to curb such deaths.
He started collecting demographic details of villages, towns, nearest hospitals, PHC and challenges in the particular geographic location and started maintaining a database of rural doctors. It took about two years for him to compile all the information about corporates, financial institutions and doctors. But the result was worth it. He created a Whatsapp group and they’ve started using this group to reach out to the patients through the member doctors. The Cardiology at Doorsteps (CAD) group with about 800 doctors, aids quicker diagnosis, especially in the remote rural areas where specialists are not easily accessible. The health practitioners in this group are working in Primary and Community Health Centres across various districts in Karnataka with two cardiologists (including Dr Kamath and Dr Manish Rai) as experts.
While the doctors share their professional advice on heart-related illnesses for free, they also guide rural doctors in terms of reading electrocardiograms (ECGs) that are posted in the group for a second opinion. Not only that but also the doctors in the group help the doctors working in smaller hospitals and PHCs to connect with a referral hospital and the nearest cardiologist.
Dr Kamath proudly says that after 1.5 years since they began, they’ve accurately diagnosed 500 heart attacks and 850 heart diseases. They’ve also received at least 8000 consultations spread across four groups which comprise of three cardiologists in each group.
Remaining online throughout the day is a great challenge for the doctors in the group. Hence, the doctors in the group have to share their numbers to tackle the situation. “Every ECG posted is reported immediately and then archived. If ECG is not normal, the doctor is called on mobile in addition to standard WhatsApp reporting to doubly ensure the well-being of the patients,” Dr Kamath clarifies.
Apart from that, the group has installed over 200 ECG machines in small hospitals and PHCs in remote rural areas. The funding for these machines is donated by patients, their relatives, well-wishers and philanthropists. The banking sector has also funded a few machines. The CAD’s has also donated emergency heart attack diagnosis and treatment kits to PHC’s. The kit consists of the drugs used for immediate treatment in case of heart attacks. “My ambition is to take this up on a pan-India level with the help of like-minded cardiologists along with donations from probably larger business houses. THAT will be a game-changer,” he says. He also runs a free WhatsApp helpline in case of heart-related emergency cases. But Dr Kamath emphasises that this helpline is only for online consultations in case of emergencies and is in no way a replacement to clinical knowledge and judgement.
Though at present, the CAD group provide consultation service only in 14 districts across Karnataka, they plan on increasing its reach in other states. They have already donated 12 ECG machines to PHCs in Kerala.
According to WHO reports, heart attacks are the leading cause of disability and death in India. A Lancet study estimated that the prevalence of heart disease in the country has increased from 2.57 crore in 1990 to 5.45 crore in 2016, and deaths resulting from cardiovascular diseases also increased from 13 lakh in 1990 to 28 lakh in 2016.
Additionally, the average time it takes for a patient with an ongoing heart attack to get treated is 360 minutes.

Source: The Better India

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