Cardiologist from Warangal spreading ‘ART’ for a healthy heart

Warangal: The noted cardiologist from Warangal city Dr Ramaka Srinivas has been winning accolades and awards for his community cardiology programmes with a special focus on training the common public on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to save people. Speaking to ‘Telangana Today’ ahead of the World Heart Day celebrated on September 29, Dr Srinivas said he […]

Warangal: The noted cardiologist from Warangal city Dr Ramaka Srinivas has been winning accolades and awards for his community cardiology programmes with a special focus on training the common public on cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to save people.

Speaking to ‘Telangana Today’ ahead of the World Heart Day celebrated on September 29, Dr Srinivas said he had designed a programme called ‘ART’ (Awareness, Research and Training) to create awareness on heart health in the community, conduct cardiovascular research besides offering special sessions to teach and train young medical professionals in Warangal city for the last two decades.

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A consultant cardiologist at his Srinivasa Heart Centre and Chairman and Managing Trustee, Srinivasa Heart Foundation, Dr Srinivas has done ground-level work in community cardiology, tobacco prevention, lay rescuer CPR training and clinical research.

Srinivas obtained his MBBS from the Kakatiya Medical College (KMC), Warangal, in 1988, and MD (General Medicine) from Osmania Medical College, Hyderabad. He did his DM cardiology from the Kasturba Medical College, Manipal, Karnataka.

“I have conducted several sessions under ‘Know Your Heart programme’ aimed at creating awareness on heart disease through health exhibitions and audio-visual media. The programme also involves conducting health surveys, workplace wellness programmes and free cardiac camps. Patient information data sheets are distributed at each free cardiac camp; one copy is for the patient and the other is to keep track of future follow-up. On average, 100 persons are evaluated on a single day of each camp. Some of these cardiac camps are specific to detecting heart disease in children,” said Dr Srinivas, who has authored ‘Meeru-Mee Gunde’, a comprehensive book on heart health for the lay public.

“The Know Your Heart programme and Improving Cardiovascular Health of Prisoners in Central Jail, Warangal, was recognised internationally by PROCOR, a US-based organisation for being finalists of the Louis Lown Heart Hero award,” he said.

Dr Srinivas has also been focusing on tobacco prevention, conducting tobacco prevention workshops on World No Tobacco Day every year since 2005. He also translated the COTP Act into Telugu language and has conducted State-level meets on tobacco prevention too. He was involved in tobacco advocacy work at the local, state and national levels by studying the implementation of WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and MPOWER policy and COTP Act. He was awarded the World No Tobacco Award for tobacco prevention by the WHO-SEARO in 2013.

Dr Srinivas also figures in Limca Book of Records for conducting a CPR training session with 4,000 people at the KMC on December 12, 2012.

He is the principal investigator of WACAR study – Warangal Area Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest Registry, the first such registry in India and his work has been awarded the Elsevier FAIRest Dataset award by the Elsevier Research Data Management Board.

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