To mark the occasion of World Heart Day on September 29  2011   Billion Heart Beating Foundation  a campaigner against risks of heart disease is organizing a week long awareness program  Happy Heart Fest  from September 23 to September 29th all across India  drawing on the huge success of the campaign last year  The campaign aims at informing people about the basic actions that they can introduce into their daily lifestyle to lead a healthy heart
Celebrated Indians from various walks of life have come forward to lend their active support for the World Heart Fest  through various activities and events across the country to celebrate the festival and create heart health awareness   The Billion Hearts Beating Foundation has identified 5 Controls  which can make Indians have healthier happier hearts  They are Eating Healthy  Active Lifestyle  Regular Health Checks  Not Smoking and Beating Stress  and each one of these Controls has been adopted by one Celebrity Crusader to make one Billion Indians aware of them as simple measures to keep their heart healthy   Each Crusader urges Indians to take the Pledge to care for their heart  by participating in various activities of the Happy Heart Fest  or by simply logging onto www billionheartsbeating com
Across 6 Cities of the country  to kick-off the Happy Heart Fest on World Heart Day  Apollo Hospitals are offering hugely subsidized health check-ups and free consultations  Supporting the campaign in Delhi  Honorable Chief Minister of Delhi  Sheila Dixit  will inaugurate the special heart screening camp on 26th September at Delhi Secretariat for the employees of the Delhi State Secretariat  More than 500 people will be offered free heart checkups   Global Sitarist Anoushka Shankar talks of her busy life across the globe and propagates how a simple measure like Regular Health Checks can help reduce heart disease among young Indians
 In Hyderabad  the Charminar would be lit red in honour of World Heart Day  and against this backdrop  on the eve of Sept 29th  top dignitaries and celebrities of India would unveil a Calm Song  that urges young India to leave their stress and listen to their heart  5 top Indian musicians have come together to create a Calm Song   This Calm Song urges people to lay down their stress  and to lead fuller  healthier lives
In Delhi  the Largest Ashtray in the World will go through the South Campus of Delhi University on the 28th  and youth icon Rannvijay as Chief BHB Crusader for No Smoking  will take the ashtray himself through North Campus on the 29th  to urge youth to stub their cigarettes
 In Ahmedabad  apart from a grand concert of flautist Pandit Ronu Majumdar for World Heart Day  an aggressive awareness drive is being undertaken across schools  health camps  hospital 
 In Chennai  Chef Sanjeev Kapoor  BHB Crusader for Eating Healthy  is holding a special workshop in Chennai on how the way to a man s heart should be around healthy  yet tasty  food  
 In Kolkata  3500 people will come together to create the Largest Heart Formation in India
 In Mumbai  India s leading holistic health guru Mickey Mehta  is opening up his centres across the city as the BHB champion of Active Lifestyle and Fitness  and would
communicate the importance of keeping physically and spiritually fit for a healthy heart
In Bangalore  as the befitting finale of the Happy Heart Fest  celebrated Indo-Japanese stand-up comedian  Dan Nainan  will crusade for Beating Stress on World Heart Day  through a special show with his own funny take on how to beat stress and be happy  
BHB is conducting multiple contests on social networking platforms to influence and encourage people  especially the youth  to take a pledge to quit smoking  eat healthier food  go for regular heart check-ups  get more active  let go of stress and become  heart healthy 
The susceptibility of Indians to heart disease has long been evidenced in the scientific community  In India 60 of patients suffer from acute coronary syndrome  as compared to
40 in the developed countries  According to WHO  by 2015  60 of the world s cardiac patients will be Indians  Recognizing the health risk that the Indian population faces  Apollo Hospitals Group launched the Billion Hearts Beating campaign against heart disease in 2010  It is nationwide movement to reverse the alarming state of heart health in India  through education and action
 
Dr Prathap C Reddy  Chairman  Apollo Hospitals  says   There are 25 million Indians who suffer from heart disease and while the rest of the world enters the heart attack zone at 55  Indians enter it at 35  Heart disease in India has assumed alarming proportions amongst the younger generation in recent years which is worrying  The Billion Hearts Beating campaign is our corporate social responsibility campaign to create awareness on what people should do to avoid an adverse heart condition  Last year we received overwhelming response and support from policy makers  opinion leaders  youths and celebrities and other citizens of the country for the initiative  It seems the campaign have caught the imagination of people across India and mostly among the youth  I believe this year we will see more support and encouragement from all across India  Only such participation from different sections of the society could create resonance for a movement that intends to make people healthy
 
Sharing her view on the initiative   Shobhana Kamineni  Executive Director  New Initiatives  Apollo Hospitals  says    Billion Heart Beating Campaign is a drive to galvanize our nation to reverse India s disgrace of being known as the  Heart Disease Capital  of the world  It is a platform to address the issue of the heart disease in the country  We are trying to educate people to undergo preventive healthcare tests and identify problems early and follow the required lifestyle to a healthy heart  The need of the hour is the support from like-minded individuals  organisations  celebrities and other eminent members of society 
Programme Details
Date    Event    Venue
23rd-29th Sep    Subsidized health check-ups   free diet consultation    6 Apollo Hospitals across India
26th Sep    Special heart screening camp    Delhi
28th Sep    Launch of the Calm song by India s leading musicians   Lighting up of the Charminar in red    Hyderabad
28th Sep   29th Sep    World largest Ashtray Roadshow  led by Rannvijay on 29th    Delhi
29th Sept    Largest Heart Formation     Kolkata
29th Sep    Healthy-but-Tasty Cooking Workshop by Sanjeev Kapoor    Chennai
29th Sept    Cooking Workshop hosted by Svenska     Bangalore   Mumbai
29th Sep    Dan Nainan s Comedy Show    Bangalore
 
About Apollo Hospitals
In 1983  Dr Prathap C Reddy  the architect of modern Indian healthcare  launched the first corporate hospital in India- Apollo Hospitals Chennai  Today  an integrated healthcare company  the Apollo Hospitals Group has over 8 500 beds across 54 hospitals  more than 1000 pharmacies and 100 diagnostic clinics  medical business process outsourcing services  health insurance services  and clinical research divisions with a focus on epidemiological studies  stem cell research and genetic research  To develop talent for the burgeoning need of superior healthcare delivery  the Apollo Hospitals Group has 10 nursing and hospital management colleges  These accomplishments have earned Apollo Hospitals Group accolades such as the Centre of Excellence from the Government of India and recognition from the Joint Commission International seven of our hospitals are JCI accredited  In a rare honour  the Government of India issued a commemorative stamp in 2009  in recognition of Apollo s contribution  the first for a health care organization  
Apollo  for over 27 years  has continuously excelled and maintained leadership in medical innovation  world class clinical services and cutting edge research   Our hospitals are consistently ranked amongst the best hospitals globally for advanced medical services