Dr. Santiago Hazim, executive director of SeNaSa, said that the implementation of programs through the First Level of Care Centers and public-private centers makes it possible to orient and educate affiliates of the different regimes and plans who have pre-existing diseases such as hypertension and diabetes.
“An educated affiliate reduces the risk of complications for his or her heart. We currently have 189,176 affiliates diagnosed with hypertension in the Primary Care Centers, who are accompanied and oriented through educational talks that contribute to reducing the risk of complications. Primary Care allows us to intervene in chronic non-communicable pathologies with a greater emphasis on hypertension and diabetes,” said Dr. Hazim.
On the occasion of World Heart Day, the executive director and other collaborators of the Institution’s Health Management Department stated that the only way to prevent this type of condition from causing further damage is to lead a healthy lifestyle.
Dr. José Báez, in charge of prevention and promotion at SeNaSA, said that with the promotion and prevention they are carrying out, “we are trying to avoid the complications that can lead our members to a premature death or cause problems in their quality of life, in their personal development and even at work”.
He indicated that these diseases are producing complications even in very young patients, in whom it used to be rare to see an acute myocardial infarction or a stroke, events that were frequent in the elderly. Today, however, the frequency of such events in young people is increasing every day. These complications are easy to reduce or avoid if we carry out the appropriate interventions through health promotion, educating about personal and family self-care in all members, with emphasis on those who have cardiovascular diseases or are identified with risk factors, as we are doing from the National Health Insurance.
Likewise, Dr. Williams Cuello, health manager of that management, explained that this strategy is applied in the different regimes and plans, since “the programs seek to intervene in a timely manner in our affiliates the risk factors that predispose the development of hypertension, knowing that this silent condition does not have a specific or exclusive symptom since it is multifactorial and that is why there is a large population that has the condition but is not aware of it”.
Dr. Cuello commented that the actions developed from promotion are of utmost importance, which consists of educating the affiliate about the measures that should be taken into account and that the affiliates should be able to identify them at least.
The doctors mentioned that the risk factors for developing heart disease include family history, smoking, poor diet, lack of physical activity, alcohol consumption, hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that the population makes a change in their lifestyle and takes care of their health.
Source: presidencia.gov.do
