As you drive across your city or surf on the internet, it is likely that you have spotted advertisements or awareness posters on ‘stroke’. In the past few years, doctors and hospitals have spent a lot of effort trying to educate people about this common but ignored medical emergency, and for a simple reason: it’s impact can be massively reduced if the person gets the right kind of medical attention on time.
“Awareness on stroke is still very low,” says Dr U Meenakshisundaram, Senior Neurologist at Apollo Hospitals on Greams Road in Chennai. For several years now, Dr Meenakshisundaram has been trying to educate people on what a stroke really is, how it can be identified and what kind of medical care must be given to a person who has suffered a stroke.
Strokes are to the brain what heart attacks are to the heart, and are usually caused by a blood clot or bleeding in the brain. According to the World Health Organisation, globally, strokes are the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability. If they are not treated on time, they can cause serious physical disability, or even death. However, if detected early, then the chances of a person resuming normal life after treatment are high. Which is why, when it comes to treating a stroke, timely intervention is important.
In the past few years, huge strides have been made in developing technology to treat strokes. Hi-tech medical equipment allow doctors to perform a ‘thrombectomy’ on patients to remove the blood clot within a few minutes, saving lives of patients and retaining their quality of life as much as possible. “With increasing awareness in the medical community, the skills of doctors like us in treating a stroke has also improved immensely in the past few years,” Dr Meenakshisundaram says. Treatment for stroke has also become more affordable over the years, he says.
Watch the short film below to understand how timely intervention after a stroke can save lives:
This article was created by TNM Brand Studio in association with Apollo Hospitals.