Bhaktapur, August 6:

Cardiologists today stressed the need to increase health awareness among people so as to save them from heart ailments that have begun surfacing as one of the main health hazards in the country. Speaking at a seminar on cardiac disease, organised on the occasion of the annual general meeting of the Nepal Health Education Association here today, participants said lack of awareness and poverty have been contributing to the increase in the rate of heart ailments. On the occasion, Dr Prakash Raj Regmi, in his working paper on “Cardiac arrest and heart diseases”, said that 10 per cent of the total Nepali population is suffering from heart ailments. The number of people beset with cardiac problems has increased five-fold over the past 20 years, he said, stressing on the need for health awareness.