A lipid profile screening camp, covering a group of working journalists, indicates the necessity of urgent medical attention for at least one-tenth of the participants as their cholesterol and triglycerides levels were found far above the permissible limits. Almost half of them need lifestyle modification (read more physical activities), added the health camp report.
Among the participants (mostly male), who are members of Guwahati Press Club belonging to the age group of 25 to 65 years, 40% showed satisfactory outcomes they were reportedly maintaining good health. Assam’s popular healthcare institution Dispur Hospital conducted the screening camp for five days (starting on 9 April 2018) free of cost, where over 130 scribes participated and out of the 13 were diagnosed with high triglyceride levels.
Emphasizing on post-test consultations, the city-based hospital had assigned an experienced physician on 19 April (between 2.30 pm and 5 pm) for counseling with the scribes about their blood reports. Dr. Jayanta Bardoloi, a practicing physician and the managing director of Dispur Hospital advocates for regular lipid profile (lipid panel) test after certain ages, as it helps to identify genetic diseases and determining approximate risks for cardiovascular disease along with certain forms of pancreatitis.
As the doctors describe, the lipids are essential organic molecules found in blood and stored in tissues which play an important role in the functioning of a human body. The triglycerides indicate the excess fat in the body, which is stored in the fat cells. For an absolute reading, the lipid profile test is conducted after few hours of fasting. In general, if the reading remains less than 200 mg/dL, the person is safe, but if it goes above 400 mg/dL, (s)he needs medical attention as the high triglycerides may increase the risk of heart disease and may be a sign of metabolic disease like diabetes and hypertension.
The low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), also known as bad cholesterol, may cause coronary artery disease if not treated for years. However, the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL), commonly termed as good cholesterol, helps to remove the LDL from blood vessels. It reduces the probability of heart diseases. A high level of cholesterol does not indicate the risk of heart disease as it night belonged to HDL. On the other hand, the very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) is also considered as one of the bad blood fat.
Lipid profile tests are essential for those who are overweight (or obese), regular alcohol consumers, chain smokers and having the family history of heart diseases. Moreover, who has suffered from kidney diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, hypothyroid etc, should go for the test at regular intervals. It helps to monitor a person’s risk for cardiovascular diseases.
The city press club has been taking the healthcare awareness initiative for many years. Now it runs a weekly out-patient department clinic at the club premises for the benefit of over 300 active members. Many scribes with high blood sugar, hypertension, thyroid, uric acid etc were diagnosed in various health camps and were advised accordingly. Till date, it has organized over 100 free health camps providing benefits to hundreds of media persons.
Guwahati, the virtual capital of northeast India with a population of 2 millions, today supports hundreds of journalists who are engaged in over 25 morning daily newspapers, hundreds of periodicals, five satellite news channels, few entertainment channels & FM radio along with a number of news portals based in the pre-historic city those disseminate news and other contents in Assamese, Hindi, English and other languages. The number of city-based non-journalist media employees may go up to few thousands.
The club initiative has also been supported by GNRC Hospitals, Down Town Hospitals, Apollo Hospital (Chennai and Guwahati campus), SIMS Chennai Hospital, Manipal Hospital (Bangalore), Fortis Hospital (Bangalore), Medanta the Medicity Hospital (Gurgaon), Ayursundra Hospital, Barthakur Clinic, Wintrobe Hospital, Nemcare Hospital, Sun Valley Hospital, Excelcare Hospital, Rahman Hospital, Narayana Super-Specialty Hospitals, Swagat Super-Surgical Institute, Sight First eye-clinic etc.
