Top doctor's shocking revelation in wake of Shane Warne tragedy
The chief medical advisor for the Heart Foundation has revealed how crucial heart health checks for Australians are being missed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Australians have been left reeling by the high-profile deaths of cricket legend Shane Warne and Labor senator Kimberley Kitching this month - both of suspected heart attacks and both at the age of 52.
AFL great Dean Wallis (also 52) also suffered a heart attack over the weekend but is recovering in hospital after emergency surgery.
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Amid the spate of high-profile heart attacks, the Heart Foundation has spoken out about how the pandemic is impacting access to vital health checks.
The Foundation revealed this week that 27,000 heart health checks have been missed or delayed because of the pandemic's impact on the medical system, warning that more deaths are inevitable.
"People have been reluctant to seek routine medical attention during the pandemic and that includes having preventive health checks like a heart health check," Heart Foundation chief medical adviser and interim chief executive Garry Jennings told the Daily Mail.
"This could have serious and even fatal consequences.
"Fewer people having a heart health check means that risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are generally silent or symptom free, go undiagnosed and potentially worsen, increasing people's risk of a heart event in the future."
Professor Jennings warned that a lack of heart health screening could create fatal consequences.
"Having a heart health check gives you the best chance of preventing a heart attack or stroke," he said.
"It's a simple, painless check-up with your GP that could save your life."
The Heart Foundation is calling for heart checks to be made permanent after they were added as a temporary item to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) in 2019.
"This concerning data reinforces the urgency of making heart health checks a permanent part of the MBS, as doctors will be dealing with a backlog of people who need preventative heart health care for years to come," Professor Jennings said.
Shane Warne had visited doctor about chest pains
Thai police have revealed that Warne visited a doctor about chest pains he was experiencing just weeks before his death.
Local police chief Yutthana Sirisombat said Warne had asthma and "had seen doctors regarding a heart condition prior to his death".
He added that relatives also said the cricket legend had previously suffered chest pains.
Juliane Mitchell, the National Manager of Health Research and Innovation at the Heart Foundation, told Channel 7 recently that heart health check-ups had increased in the last week.
“When the spotlight is shone so brightly on a story, it really does make people stop and think. It’s the greatest legacy that Shane Warne and Kimberley Kitching can give us,” she said.
“This is a conversation that’s long overdue.”
Professor Stephen Nicholls, the Director of the Victorian Heart Institute, said the high-profile deaths should act as a wake up call for Australians.
“We’ve been in this state of denial forever that heart disease is a problem that men get and that women don’t get and that’s just not true,” he said.
“Women are more likely to die of heart disease than anything else.”
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