Mumbai, 29th Oct’21: Since this is the respiratory care week – between 24th and 30th October this month – this is an opportune time to underline the need to take good care of respiratory organs and spread awareness among people.
Respiration which involves inhaling of oxygen into the body and expulsion of carbon dioxide from it is an integral part of our very existence. A fairly elaborate process using a number of organs – from mouth and nose to throat to trachea and bronchial tubes to lungs – an affliction or a problem in any one of these parts can cause respiratory complications and disorders which could further impact cardio-vascular systems including the heart. While one can develop some respiratory disorders due to unavoidable reasons, taking lightly of seemingly minor issues with respiratory system can prove to be costly in the long run. In fact, ignoring or poor care of respiratory organs can lead to a stage where one might even require more advanced level of care which would necessarily involve use of ventilators.
And there is a range of conditions that one might find himself faced with if one doesn’t take proper care of respiratory organs on a regular basis: from respiratory allergies to asthma to infections leading to pneumonia and bronchitis to extremely serious conditions such as lung cancer and COPD and acute respiratory failure, the list is rather long and many of which would require immediate care and mechanical ventilation.
“There is a reason why we call ventilators a lifesaving device. The ability to breathe normally and continuously through our respiratory organs constitutes an inextricable part of our very living. Any disruption, for whatever reasons, calls for immediate medical attention and care. And ventilators form that intervening lifesaving device for someone struggling to breathe and who could possibly lose his life. Although there is a range of modern-age ventilators available today from ICU ventilators to ICU ventilators, anaesthesia ventilators to home care and portable ventilators to related devices such as HFOT to help people with their breathing and related problems, people should regularly attend to their respiratory systems and organs in a way that rules out or minimizes the need for ventilatory assistance. While about 1.71 lakh Covid patients alone are on ventilators in the country today, when combined with other serious respiratory patients this number could become much higher,” said Mr. Ashok Patel, the founder and brain behind Max Ventilator.
“We often tend to take most of our respiratory organs for granted as long as they are functioning externally not realizing that the slightest issue with any one of the organs if not attended to timely could deteriorate into a debilitating disease for life requiring prolonged or even lifelong advanced level of medical attention including ventilatory assistance. We have to be cautious against this grim possibility. Therefore, any small disruption in our breathing through nose or an irritant in our throat or any minor inconvenience in our respiratory tract or related organs and muscles must not be overlooked because that could turn out to be the difference between life and death for a person. Remember, COPD, a major respiratory condition has been the second most common cause of mortality after heart disease in the country. So, during this Respiratory Care Week, it becomes imperative to educate people on the need to take proper care of their respiratory organs regularly which would to a great extent forestall any respiratory emergency obviating the need for ventilator support,” said Dr. Rajesh G Gajara, MD (Medicine), Consultant Physician and Cardiologist, Fortis, Mulund, Mumbai
