Over the last couple of years, deaths of on-duty cardiologists, usually because of a heart attack and sudden cardiac arrest, have made headlines. Be it Dr Gaurav Gandhi, 41, in Jamnagar (Gujarat), Dr Adil Amin, 37, in Delhi and now Dr Gradlin Roy, 39 in Chennai, their deaths have drawn attention to how long hours at work, exhausting surgeries, ER crisis, stress, burnout and poor lifestyle have become additional risk factors for their heart health.
However, most cardiologists are aware that they are as much vulnerable as other Indians and sometimes tend to neglect their own heart health while prioritising that of their patients. But Dr M Sudhakar Rao and Dr Rocky Katheria, both 37 — one a cardiologist and the other an interventional cardiologist — at Manipal Hospital, Bengaluru, have worked around their busy schedules to maintain their heart health at optimum levels. “You literally hold your heart in your hands. It’s not about workload, everybody has theirs, it is about how to find your own discipline despite it. Also, most people judge good health with the externalities of appearance. ‘So and so looks fit,’ they say. But nobody looks at the 16-18 hour shifts that doctors have to do on their feet, sleepless nights, workplace anxiety, all of which build chronic risk factors like inflammation, blood pressure and bad cholesterol,” they say.
