Dr. Deepak Puri, director of cardiovascular thoracic surgery at Max Hospital has been awarded the ‘Pride of Nation’ award during the ‘Shan-e-Hindustan Awards 2020’ function at a hotel in Zirakpur last night. He received an award for his outstanding contribution to the comprehensive cost-effective management of cardiovascular diseases.

He also addressed an awareness health talk on ‘how to combat Covid and heart risk in winter’ during the occasion.

He said that heart attack risk rises steeply during winter. Maximum heart attack deaths occur between Christmas and New Year every year.

The responsible reasons are; high risk of clot formation, narrowing of arteries, rise in cholesterol levels, less exposure to sunlight with fall in vitamin D levels, rise in catecholamines, higher risk of respiratory infections, and sedentary lifestyle during cold weather.

He said further that another important reason for the rise in heart attack deaths especially among the younger population is that most of them indulge in parties, binge eating, and drinking during this period.

Most of the heart disease and Covid deaths are preventable by simple lifestyle changes. Thus everyone should adopt safety measures before it gets too late, he asserted.

He also informed that contrary to a spreading belief, the Covid threat is not yet over. Viral infections of the respiratory tract are known to rise every winter and can also precipitate fatal heart attacks especially in the elderly, maintained Dr. Puri who is also a global chairman of Cardioversion.