Dubai: In order to help people take charge of one’s cardiac health and to highlight the high-risk relationship between diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, RAK Diabetes Centre, Jumeirah, is organising a complimentary heart check-up at its venue on January 21.

The campaign includes free tests like ECG, random blood sugar, blood pressure, height and weight, BMI and consultation with a specialist cardiologist. The drive also aims to draw the residents’ attention towards danger signs such as chest pain, breathlessness, palpitation, fatigue, headache and dizziness — all of which can be an indication of potential heart trouble, particularly among those who are 40 years and above. The health check-up will be open to people from 10am to 4pm.

“One in four residents in the UAE is a diabetic, while heart disease still remains the number one killer in the country,” says Dr Mukesh Nathani, specialist cardiologist at RAK Diabetes Centre, Jumeirah, He said monitoring cardiac health was just as important for non-diabetics as well, particularly if there’s a medical history of the disease in the family.

“Besides giving people opportunity to avail complimentary check-up, our aim is to teach the masses never to ignore even seemingly innocuous symptoms that could be a telltale sign of cardiac disorder,” he added.

Dr Raza Siddiqui, CEO, Arabian Healthcare Group, the holding company of RAK Diabetes Centre, said, “Being a progressive disease, managing diabetes is a task in itself since it can often lead to other health issues. Deteriorating cardiac health is one of the most common fallout, which is why it is always a good idea to get check-up done to find out how things stand. At RAK Diabetes Centre, we believe that on-time screening can potentially catch a number of diseases which can be nipped in the bud.”