He was in the city to interact with the senior doctors of major hospitals like Chrisitian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) and SPS Apollo Hospitals in a brief interaction programme held at Ludhiana Mediciti, Ferozepur Road.

“As per a survey, India was ranked 7th in providing healthcare to its people at economical prices. We treated three million people in 2007-08 at a cost of one dollar per patient, which is a big achievement. There are some very good hospitals in the country now and we are providing services at par with the international standards but at a minimal cost,” he replied to a question on the health standards in the country.

Dr Venugopal said has had a strong reason to believe in the increasing growth of health sector. “There was a time when Ludhiana could only boast of CMCH as a tertiary care provider. But now there are so many good institutes which have come up so well and cardiac care has improved a lot in the region over the years. This comes as a surprise to me. For example, Ludhiana Mediciti which has developed so well in the lest possible ‘gestation period’ of one and a half years.”

Talking about the preventive part of the non-communicable diseases, the renowned cardiologist said, “The country has largely been able to control the communicable diseases to a great extent but the now the real worry has come in the form of non-communicable diseases which are assuming alarming and epidemic proportions.

The country therefore needs to adopt a combined effort on the part of the government as well as the non-government level to prevent from such diseases as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular problems.”