The National Interventional Council (NIC), under the aegis of Cardiological Society of India (CSI), has now indicated that cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is the first among the top five causes of fatality in the country. It is estimated that over 61.5 million people in India would suffer from this condition by 2015.

In its data compilation efforts, the NIC and CSI reported that out-of-pocket funding for coronary procedures increased to 43.9% from 39.8% in 2013 to 56.1% which was funded by government and private insurance combined.

Within government funded and private insurance, the former procedures decreased to 37.4% in 2014 from 45.3% in 2013. In the same period, procedures covered by private insurance increased to 18.7% in 2014 from 14.9%

Data for the 2014 NIC Registry was submitted by 396 centres across India. It estimates that there are a total of 624 hospitals with cath labs in India.

Greater awareness about symptoms, early diagnosis and timely intervention would save costs. Despite increase in access to care in 2014, India has a highly under-diagnosed CVD and even less treated through coronary interventions. The NIC data clearly shows that 70% of the cath labs reporting data perform less than two procedures per day, noted Dr. Chandra.

The key insights from the 2014 NIC Registry are that total coronary interventions in 2014 showed a steady rise to 248,152 against 216,817 in 2013; number of centres reporting remain similar.

India is one of the few countries where Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCIs) registers over 14% growth.

People reporting to hospitals with acute symptoms necessitated a primary PCI which increased from 24,375 in 2013 to 41,057, a rise of 68%.  Younger patients showed marginal decline in coronary interventions over previous years but CAD was on the rise among women.

Use of drug eluting stents continued to rise with new technologies like Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold showing increased acceptance. The data also revealed that Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, Meril Life Sciences and Boston Scientific stents were the most used coronary stents in 2014, which was similar to 2013.