KARACHI, Feb 14: Medical experts at a health forum held here on Friday noted that people of developing countries in the 30-40 age bracket are also suffering from heart diseases and their number is on the increase.

They said that lifestyle changes, smoking, substandard food, fast food, lack of awareness about health issues and diseases like diabetes, hypertension, increased body weight and increase of blood cholesterol were among the main reasons behind the increase of diseases among people in their 30s. They also blamed low literacy for health problems.

The meeting organised by the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases on Friday night was part of the inauguration of the second annual Dr Abdul Haque Khan memorial international cardiology symposium.

City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal was the chief guest. Dr Abdus Samad, Dr Bunyad Haider and Prof M Ishaq spoke at the health forum.

The nazim said in his speech that the densely populated city of Karachi, spread over a vast area of land, needed to have at least one cardiac ailment cure centre in each of its 18 towns.

He said that two such hospitals would start functioning in the next two months while the city government had included in its future plans the establishment of a cardiac hospital in each town of the city.

He also paid tribute to Dr Abdul Haque, a renowned heart disease expert and surgeon, saying that Dr Haque was a true lover of humanity and he served the ailing selflessly.

He said that the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases run by the City District Government of Karachi was an institution providing care and treatment to heart patients at a low cost.

Around 8,000 patients had undergone angioplasty operations at the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases since the establishment of the hospital and people, coming from Punjab, Balochistan, NWFP, and the interior of Sindh had been treated there, he informed the audience.