Gujarat: 6 dead of 'heart attacks' in 1 week while performing garba during Navratri; health minister
Ahmedabad, (PTI): Six persons, including a woman and a teen student, have died of heart attacks in the last one week while performing 'garba', a traditional dance which is the main feature of Navratri celebrations, in Gujarat, as per kin and the statewide 108 ambulance service.
Navratri, a heavily patronised festivity of the state, started on October 15.
Apart from these six deaths, 22 others died of heart attacks in the state during this period.
Sources said state health minister Rushikesh Patel during the day held a meeting with top heart specialists and doctors of U N Mehta Institute of Cardiology & Research Centre and directed them to collect relevant data and conduct research to find out the exact cause of these deaths.
Notably, Uttar Pradesh Governor and former Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel had, on Sunday, expressed concern over this issue and urged the health minister to conduct a study to find out the reasons behind the rising number of heart attacks in the state.
"Many youngsters suffered heart attacks and died while playing garba during Navratri. We must conduct an analysis of such deaths to find out the reasons. Since Rushikeshbhai is also here, I urge him to conduct a study on how many people died due to heart attack in the last one year," she had said while addressing a function in Sander village in Patan district on Sunday.
Citing a research done by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in this regard, she ruled out a popular belief among the masses that such deaths were happening due to COVID-19.
The six persons who died due to heart attack while playing garba included Veer Shah, a Class 12 student from Kapadvanj town in Kheda district.
According to his family, Veer fainted due to a heart attack while playing garba at a common ground on Friday night. He was rushed to a hospital but could not be saved, they said.
As per the records of the '108' ambulance service, 28-year-old Ravi Panchal died due to sudden cardiac arrest when he was dancing on garba tunes at a party plot in Hathijan area on the outskirts of Ahmedabad during the early hours of Saturday.
In Vadodara, 55-year-old Shankar Rana was referred to a hospital on Friday night after he collapsed on the garba ground in Harni area. He was declared dead on arrival by doctors.
Mrunal Shukla (31) of Navsari district and 46-year-old Raju Aala of Porbandar district died due to the same reason on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
In Rajkot, a 47-year-old married woman named Kanchan Saxena felt uneasy and collapsed after playing garba on Friday night. Though she was referred to a hospital, she could not be revived.
Apart from these deaths linked to garba, as many as 22 people, including two women, have died due to heart attack in different parts of Gujarat during the last one week.
As per the data shared by the '108 ambulance service, they have received nearly 750 calls related to cardiac emergencies between October 15 and October 22. These calls were received between 6:00pm and 2:00am, they added.
The service received 673 calls during Navratri, which comes to an average of 84 calls per day(673/8), though the service pointed out that this is less than the 88 calls received during normal days.
Before the Navratri festivities commenced, the state Health and Family Welfare Department had, through a notification, made it mandatory for garba event organisers to deploy an ambulance and a medical team at the venue to provide immediate aid to participants.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
===================
The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
