Several cases of heart attacks were observed during the Garba festival in Gujarat. Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya expressed concern over the issue and said that according to a study conducted by ICMR those who have had severe covid should avoid overexertion, running or over-exercising. “ICMR has done a detailed study recently. The study says that those who have had severe covid and enough amount of time has not passed, should avoid overexertion, running or over-exercising for at least a year or two, to avoid heart attacks,” Mandaviya said.
#WATCH | Bhavnagar, Gujarat: On heart attack cases during the Garba festival, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya says, “ICMR has done a detailed study recently. The study says that those who have had severe covid and enough amount of time has not passed, should avoid… pic.twitter.com/qswGbAHevV
— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2023
This comes days after six people, including a woman and a Class 12 student, lost their lives due to a heart attack in Gujarat while performing the ‘garba’ dance as part of the Navratri celebrations. Other than these six deaths linked to the Garba events, 22 other people also died in the state during the same period.
Following the incidents, Gujarat Health Minister Rushikesh Patel held a meeting with top heart specialists and doctors of the U N Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre and instructed them to collect relevant data and conduct research to find out the exact cause of these deaths, PTI reported, citing sources.
The six persons who died due to heart attack while playing garba included Veer Shah, a Class 12 student from Kapadvanj town in Kheda district. According to his family, Veer fainted due to a heart attack while playing garba at a common ground on Friday night, as per PTI. He was rushed to a hospital but could not be saved, they said. As per records of the ‘108’ ambulance service, 28-year-old Ravi Panchal died due to sudden cardiac arrest when he was dancing on garba tunes at a party plot in Hathijan area on the outskirts of Ahmedabad.
