Karnataka Launches Dr Puneeth Rajkumar Hrudaya Jyothi Yojane to address Rising Heart Attacks in the State

The scheme includes the installation of 50 automated external defibrillators at railway stations, Vidhana Soudha, courts and bus stands, to help revive patients suffering from heart attacks in public places.

Owing to the increasing rate of heart attack cases, especially among the youth, the Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao has launched Dr Puneeth Rajkumar Hrudaya Jyothi Yojane.

Under the yojane, 85 hospitals at district and taluk levels will act as spokes which will be connected with 10 hubs created in 16 super-speciality hospitals, including Jayadeva Hospital. Moreover, three hubs of Jayadeva in Bengaluru, Mysore and Kalaburagi will be linked to 45 spoke centres.

Reportedly, If the patient requires prolonged care, they will be transferred to hub centres from taluk or district hospital spoke centres to avail of further treatment.

The scheme encompasses a whopping amount of INR 6.5 Cr further, the government will also provide tenecteplase injections, costing INR 35,000-45,000 for free of cost.

Additionally, advanced technologies will be utilised that will leverage AI to detect a patient’s condition within 4-5 minutes.

The scheme includes the installation of 50 automated external defibrillators at railway stations, Vidhana Soudha, courts and bus stands, to help revive patients suffering from heart attacks in public places.

A study conducted by Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR) reported that 8% of heart attack patients were young women under 45 years of age.

Further, about 51%of the cohort studies were smokers, 20% had high blood pressure and diabetes, 30% had high cholesterol and 17% had a strong family history of premature heart attacks.

According to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, which implemented a STEMI heart attack management programme in March 2023, reported that an estimated 96,150 patients are affected by severe heart attacks (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) causing sudden deaths every year in the state.

The STEMI Program by the Karnataka government is a statewide initiative recognised by the National Health Mission (NHM) for early diagnosis and management of heart attacks. The program aims to enable rapid diagnosis of heart disease in all taluka and district health facilities in Karnataka.

Under phase I of the STEMI Heart Attack Management Program, 877 of 56,484 patients who presented with chest pain at rural hospitals have been diagnosed and treated for heart attacks, preventing deaths.

The second phase was implemented in the remaining districts with seven hubs—Dakshina Kannada, Belgaum, Davangere, Shivamogga, Dharwad, Bagalkot and Bellary.

The Karnataka Health Department has been constantly working to strengthen the state’s healthcare infrastructure, for instance, recently it collaborated with Bengaluru’s C-CAMP to solidify the public health system. This partnership sought to facilitate the identification, implementation, and integration of innovative health technologies across primary to tertiary healthcare facilities in both urban and rural areas of Karnataka.