Cardiovascular diseases
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are a group of conditions and disorders that affect the heart and blood vessels (arteries and veins). In 2019, CVDs killed 17.9 million people worldwide, or 32% of global deaths. In India, as per the Global Burden of Disease, 24.8% of all deaths are due to CVDs, which is 272 per lakh of population.
Types of heart diseases
While there are various types of diseases and conditions that affect the heart, the most prevalent in India are the coronary heart disease (or coronary artery disease or ischaemic heart disease), cerebrovascular disease, rheumatic heart disease and hypertensive heart disease. “While coronary artery disease impacts the affluent, rheumatic disease affects the low-income segment in India. Earlier, the coronary disease affected those above 40 years, but now even younger people are afflicted,” says Dr Vinay Kumar Bahl, Principal Director, Max Hospital, and ex-Dean & Head of Cardiology, AIIMS, Delhi.
How much you spend
The spending begins with the visit to the doctor, moving on to the diagnosis where you pay for a multitude of tests, and finally the treatment depending on its course and length. If the condition can be treated by medication, you incur a relatively small cost, but it can last a lifetime.
In case of serious damage, you may require surgical intervention, wherein the cost of procedure, equipment and hospitalisation can run into lakhs. The cost can be reduced if you undergo treatment in a government hospital or have adequate insurance, but can be high if you choose a private hospital. The drugs will cost less if you buy generic medicines as opposed to branded, patented ones. We shall consider only the cost of procedures in a private hospital in Delhi, and are not including the hospitalisation cost.
