Why a heart attack in Hyderabad is a direct ticket to poverty

A new ICMR-funded study involving NIMS reveals that rising heart failure treatment costs are pushing many Hyderabad families into poverty. Lack of insurance, costly medicines, income loss, and distress financing are leaving households burdened with severe financial stress after cardiac illnesses.

Hyderabad: A heart attack in a family residing in Hyderabad is increasingly becoming a direct ticket to poverty! While medical science is improving and saving the lives of heart failure victims, the soaring cost of treatment, however, is ensuring that families end up in financial ruin.

A study funded by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 21 top hospitals across India, in which Hyderabad-based Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) was involved, reveals a chilling economic reality. For an average Indian family, the cost of keeping a heart beating is enough to push them below the poverty line.

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The study, published in Global Heart (April, 2026), paints a grim picture. Despite the growth of insurance schemes, nearly 7 out of 10 heart failure patients (68 percent) in Hyderabad walk into hospitals with zero financial protection.

The burden on those without insurance is substantial, with families forced to pay 97.9 percent of all medical expenses from their own savings. Even for those with some form of coverage, the safety net of insurance is not enough, as they end up bearing 92.6 percent of the total costs.

While a single heart-failure-related hospitalisation can cost an average of Rs 1,18,954, the study highlights outpatient care as the hidden killer of household budgets.

The daily cost of life-saving medications such as diuretics, beta-blockers, and newer, more effective drugs, along with regular diagnostic tests, creates a relentless financial drain. Families face an average annual out-of-pocket expenditure of Rs 1,06,566.

According to the study, nearly 38 percent of households fall into the financial distress category, where medical bills consume more than 40 percent of their capacity to pay after basic food needs are met.

To keep patients alive, 17.7 percent of families resort to distress financing, such as selling ancestral land, family gold, or their homes, and taking high-interest loans from informal moneylenders.

The crisis is compounded because 36.2 percent of households in the study reported a sharp decline in monthly earnings because the heart patient, often the primary breadwinner, can no longer work, or a family member quits a job and becomes a full-time caregiver.

How heart attacks are financial death knells for families in Hyderabad:

• 68 percent of patients have no health coverage.
• Average annual out-of-pocket cost is Rs 1,06,566.
• 17.7 percent of families sell assets or take private loans to survive.
• 36.2 percent of households experience a decline in earnings.
• 32.3 percent of individuals see income drop immediately post-diagnosis.
• 45.6 percent of rural families face a higher poverty risk compared to urban counterparts.
• 4 out of 10 families sacrifice basic necessities to afford treatment.
• 41.9 percent of patients also battle hypertension, while 37 percent struggle with diabetes, further inflating costs.