Pointing out that the best way to fight against cardiovascular diseases is exercise and proper nutrition, Heart Surgeon Prof. İhsan Bakır, M.D. says, “You can take the first step to a healthy life by quitting smoking which is the archenemy of the heart. First thing you can do is to buy a bicycle with the money you have been spending for cigarettes. You can think of the heart health week as a milestone and take a step.”
Secreteriat General of Çekmece Region for Public Hospitals Association published a statement for the World Heart Health Week. Secretary General and Cardiac Surgeon Prof. İhsan Bakır, M.D. states that awareness should be created in the society to draw attention to heart health. Stressing out that heart diseases take the first place in the death cases in Turkey and across the world, Bakır says, “18 million people die due to cardiovascular diseases in the world every year. This figure is estimated to exceed 25 million by 2020. The individual needs to take a step to fight the diseases in the first place. Smoking, stress, sedentary life and malnutrition are archenemies of the heart. Regular exercises, adequate sleep, a smoking-free life, avoiding stress, consuming omega-high food and having a regular heart check-up are important for a healthy heart. I would like to invite smokers to make a new start for the Heart Health Week. Take the first step for a healthy life in the Heart Health Week and you can buy a bicycle with the money you have saved by not smoking or go for regular walks. Just do something good for your heart.”
Calling attention to the fact that they started a project to prevent cardiac deaths in Turkey for the first time, Prof. İhsan Bakır, M.D. says, “We started the Online Heart Health Screening Project in 2013. ECG screening has been performed on 463,173 students at 541 schools in 15 districts of İstanbul and Edirne within the project to date. Of 995 students with heart disease findings, 66 were operated and others started to be monitored closely. The project aims to perform ECG on 1 million students at 1083 schools in 22 districts within the project by the end of 2016. Early diagnosis is essential for heart health. Our goal is to prevent sudden death. To prevent the disease before it develops. We want to prevent insidious heart diseases with this project. We do not want to lose our children. 90 percent of heart diseases can be treated.”