'Time is life' for stroke patients - We Care Your Lifestyle

The sooner a stroke (brain hemorrhage) patient receives treatment, the better his or her chances of recovery are. If the symptoms of a stroke appear, the patient should be taken to the hospital immediately.

Time means life for a stroke patient. It takes a long time to understand if you have had a stroke or not. Public awareness is important in this regard, along with skilled manpower and hospital preparation.

Specialist doctors said this at the regular monthly central seminar held at the Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) auditorium on Sunday. This year’s topic in the central seminar was stroke treatment. Three papers were presented in the seminar on the causes and treatment of stroke.

A stroke is bleeding in the brain due to the rupture of a blood vessel or a blood clot in the brain.

According to the event, stroke is one of the leading causes of death among adults in the world. Stroke is also a cause of disability in adults. 15 to 30 percent of stroke survivors become permanently disabled. Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in adults in Bangladesh.

In the first presentation, Professor of Neurology Department of BSMMU, Shahidullah, said that 19 million brain cells (neurons) of stroke sufferers die every minute. As brain cells die, brain damage continues. As time passes, the damage increases.

So it is said, ‘Time is Brain’. Immediate treatment is needed to prevent this damage. For that reason, as soon as the symptoms of stroke appear, treatment should be initiated, and the patient should be taken to the hospital.

In the question-answer phase of the program, it is said that in most cases, people do not come to the hospital on time or do not know which hospital to go to. Many people take time to understand whether they have had a stroke or not.

Again, because the hospital is not ready, the treatment is delayed. The sooner a stroke victim can be brought to the hospital, the better. In this case, it is not advisable to delay more than four and a half hours.

In the three presentations, the treatment of a patient and how to treat each patient are discussed in detail. In a presentation, Professor Subhash Kanti De of the Department of Neurology said that treating stroke is a team effort.

In this team, we want to have the involvement of doctors and other health workers from different departments, including radiology, neurology, neurosurgery, and ICU. He also said that several pieces of equipment (devices) are required for emergency surgery. They are very expensive.

The patient must purchase these. A poor patient cannot afford it. Many lives can be saved if the government supplies these equipments to government hospitals, including BSMMUs, at subsidized or free cost.

Associate Professor of Neurosurgery Shamsul Alam presented the other paper in the seminar.

It is said that if you have high blood pressure, the risk of stroke increases fourfold. High blood cholesterol increases the risk of stroke.

On the other hand, a person with diabetes is at risk of suffering from a stroke. Smoking also increases the risk. To avoid the risk, regular exercise, eating less fatty foods, eating less salt or salted foods, and not smoking have been advised by expert doctors.

At the end of the program, BSMMU Vice-Chancellor Md. Sharfuddin Ahmed said people should come to BSMMU if they have problems like face bending, not being able to speak, or suddenly not seeing in one eye. A ‘Stroke Centre’ has been opened at the university for emergency treatment of stroke patients. The centre is open 24 hours.

Talking to the doctors after the seminar, it is known that there are stroke centres in several hospitals in the country where these patients are treated.

These include BSMMU, the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospital, Combined Military Hospital, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, LabAid, Square, Evercare, Bangladesh Specialty Hospital, Asghar Ali Hospital, Chittagong Medical College Hospital, and Mount Adora Hospital in Sylhet.