Patna, May 11: Cardiologists have suggested that the state introduce thrombolytic agent — an injection to break the clot that obstructs blood flow to a portion of the heart — in government ambulances to provide immediate treatment to cardiac arrest patients.

The doctors were speaking at Eastern India Interventional Cardiology Conclave, a seminar organised by the Bihar chapter of Cardiological Society of India in Patna on Saturday. The three-day seminar began on Friday.

Cardiologists from cities like Delhi, Cochin, Pune and Mumbai, stressed the need for popularising the treatment in the state.

Dr Ajay Kumar Sinha, a cardiologist of Magadh Hospital in Patna, said: “The patients should be given thrombolytic treatment within 70 minutes of getting the attack to avoid severe damage to heart muscles. Thrombolytic treatment is an injection used to dissolve the clot that obstructs the blood flow to a portion of heart.”

Sinha, who has submitted a proposal to the government three months ago to introduce the treatment in government ambulances, said most of the patients in the state reach hospital after four to six hours of getting the attack.

“The thrombolytic agent is very expensive. Therefore, the state government should provide subsidy on it so that poor patients can avail of its benefits,” Sinha said.