Dear Editor Navhind Times Kindly report this text of mine in your Letters to the Editor column. Thanks
Stephen Dias D.Paula Mob: 9422443110 Sir, Your Editorial on “THINK OF THE HEART” the figures on Cardio –Vascular deaths projected by the Goa Medical College and Hospital Prof Wiseman Pinto does not appear to be the actual number of deaths taken place while they are on treatment of heart ailments at the GMC. I understand from the internal sources that these figures are incorrect and that the increase numbers of deaths are added of patients dying while being shifted to GMC at the verge of dying for all sort of ailment and rarely heart failures by private clinics. This is done in order not to get the blame or reduce the number of death figure in their clinics. These deaths are generally taking place while on admission or just at the time of starting the treatment at the GMC and it is not known whether the death was due to heart ailment. And also most of the times it has been reported patients dying due to accident as heart failures. This way the figures which GMC has reported are found to be exaggerated. The heart attacks certificates are easily been issued even for those who had no heart problems. Therefore the number of deaths due to heart failure as reported by GMC is on the rise which is not. It is become easy for a normal resident doctor to issue a certificate for a heart failure as the diagnosis for any other ailment is quite difficult to report and time consuming. I know a case just recently been reported for a patient having cancer disease for a long time and that the certificate was issued by a MBBS doctor that her death was due to heart failure because cancer certification can be precisely be issued only by a cancer specialist. Stephen Dias D.Paula