World Heart Day: Blood donation and health checkup camps organised in Bhubaneswar

Health checkup and blood donation camps were organised at a few places in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday and Wednesday by health bodies to mark the World Heart Day.

World Heart Day is celebrated on 29th September to raise awareness about cardiovascular diseases.

On Wednesday, a voluntary blood donation camp was organised by Utkal Hospital in association with Indian Red Cross Society in Bhubaneswar. A total of 34 units of blood were collected.

A health checkup and blood donation camp was organised at Bhimatangi in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday where 45 units of blood were collected.

Apollo Hospital in Bhubaneswar also organised a basic life saver training programme at Police Seva Bhavan on Wednesday in the presence of Saumyendra Ku. Priyadarsi, Commissioner of Police, Bhubaneswar-Cuttack, and with other senior officers.

This year, the theme of World Heart Day is “Use Heart to Connect”. “The idea is to find different and innovative ways to connect people to heart health, especially in lower resource areas and communities,” said the World Heart Federation in a statement.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains the world’s number one killer, resulting in 18.6 million deaths a year. It has many causes: from smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, to air pollution, and less common conditions such as Chagas disease and cardiac amyloidosis, said the federation.