Panaji, Sep 26 On the second day of the National Cardiovascular Disease Summit 2026 in Goa, health experts and policymakers on Saturday called for stronger prevention, early detection, referral systems and timely treatment across the country.
The three-day event began in Varca, South Goa, on Friday. The Goa government has organised it in association with Tricog Health under the theme “Policy and Implementation for Scalable Cardiovascular Care”.
The summit brought together policymakers, cardiologists, physicians, endocrinologists, public health experts, researchers and health technology specialists, said officials.
The experts discussed various aspects of cardiovascular care, including prevention and screening, emergency response, referral, treatment and long-term management, they said.
Speaking at the programme, Goa Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the state’s healthcare aims to ensure that patients receive treatment without being turned away.
“Thirty-five years ago, when my father had a heart attack, there was no ambulance and no cardiac expertise nearby; only a drive to Goa Medical College and a phone call to doctors in Bombay and the United States for guidance. That is the gap this programme was built to close,” Rane said.
In Goa, no patient is turned away, and no protocol is compromised, and patients get everything free of cost from treatment to medication, he said.
Goa Health Secretary Yatindra M Maralkar said the district hospitals in the state are now connected to a STEMI (ST-elevation myocardial infarction) referral pathway, supported by AI-enabled ECG diagnostics at the point of care.
STEMI is a type of heart attack caused by a complete blockage of a coronary artery.
The summit focused on the burden of cardiovascular disease and the role of hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidaemia and cardio-kidney-metabolic risk in driving it, said officials.
The sessions also covered population-based screening under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases, as well as paediatric cardiovascular diseases, including congenital and rheumatic heart disease, and cardiovascular disease among women.
Wing Commander Dr Shamanna S Iyengar, chair of the summit’s scientific committee, said cardiovascular disease remained the world’s leading cause of death.
“Cardiovascular disease remains the world’s leading cause of death: 19.4 million lives lost in 2023, 28.6 per cent of all deaths globally,” he said.
He said nearly 3.1 million lives were lost to cardiovascular disease in India in 2024 and stressed the need to focus on prevention, early detection and addressing gaps in the treatment of heart disease among women and children.
A key focus of the summit was management of STEMI, where delays in diagnosis and restoring blood flow can affect patient outcomes.
Implementation experiences from Goa, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Punjab were discussed, with delegates examining hub-and-spoke networks, first-contact diagnosis, patient transportation, referral systems and data management, officials said.
In healthcare, a hub-and-spoke model is a system in which larger, better-equipped hospitals support smaller hospitals or healthcare centres.
Dr C N Manjunath, MP and former director of the Bangalore-based Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, delivered the keynote address on cardiovascular care in India.
“Sixty per cent of India lives without access to a cath lab, and every thirty minutes of delay raises the risk of death by seven per cent,” he said, while advocating the use of tenecteplase (a clot-busting medication), AI-assisted diagnosis and hub-and-spoke models.
Goa’s statewide STEMI programme, launched in 2018, was also discussed at the summit.
(PTI News)
