Cyclists take the route to healthy hearts

On the morning before World Heart Day, “Docs on Wheels” and many cycling groups, including Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) staff, faculty, students and community riders, gathered in Karachi at 6am to promote heart health by cycling from Aga Khan University Hospital to Boat Basin. Organisers emphasised how cardiovascular diseases, once seen as ailments of old age, are now increasingly affecting people in their 30s and 40s due to sedentary lifestyles, poor diet, smoking, unmanaged stress, and lack of regular check-ups. “Heart disease often remains silent until it becomes life-threatening,” said Dr Fatimi, AKUH’s cardiothoracic surgeon and the organiser of the event. “We see many patients who could have saved themselves from angioplasty or bypass surgery with earlier lifestyle changes and regular screenings,” he added.