More than over 50 Mumbaikars suffer a stroke or brain attack daily but less than 10% of them get to hospital in time to avoid its long-term paralyzing effects.

The Mumbai Stroke Society has begun training the state government’s 108 free ambulance service staff—the first responders in health emergencies at home keeping this public health emergency in mind.

On Saturday, the society kick-started the programme by training 30 ayurveda and homeopathy doctors to work with the 108 service at Global Hospital, Parel. The 108 service, that takes patients from home to the nearest public hospital for free, has 112 ambulances with 230 doctors in Mumbai. It operates 937 emergency ambulances in the state, and around 2,600 doctors from alternative branches of medicine.

The 108 ambulance takes an average time of 18.75 minutes to reach the patient site, and approximately 26.25 minutes to rush him/her to hospital. According to this statistic, the Mumbai Stroke Society felt that the 108 staff would be best placed to take patient to the nearest hospital with a CT scanner to start the correct treatment.

Dr Shirish Hastak, present president of Mumbai Stroke Society said that stroke occurs when blood supply to one’s brain gets interrupted that prevents oxygen from reaching the tissues and nearly immediate death of brain cells. This is a medical emergency and requires quick treatment.

He further said that there is a window period of 4.5 hours–called the ‘Golden period’–during which doctors can provide prompt treatment. There are few steps called ABCD3 to resuscitate the brain after a stroke. A stands for airway, B for breathing, C for circulation and D for the deficit, duration and drug. Even though ABC is well established, D3 isn’t.

The most common kind of stroke can be treated with an injection called the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator that can check the paralyzing effect of stroke. Few patients are able to walk and talk within a few days and make full recovery with physiotherapy in few months.

It is estimated that the prevalence of stroke in India is between 105 and 152 per 1 lakh persons per year. As per the Global Diseases Burden study 2016, around 85%of the global burden of stroke is borne by low- and middle-income countries. As stroke was the 13th cause for mortality and mortality in India in 1990, it has rose to the 10th place in 2016.

No study has been done to calculate the exact number of strokes in the city. Mumbai Stroke Society estimates that between 1,800 and 2,000 suffer stroke each month. Out of these, only 130 get thrombolysed or get right treatment, according to the doctor.

Dr Hastak said that there needs training to help Mumbai become stroke-smart and save hands, legs and speech of patients in the golden hour.

Source: ET Healthworld