politicians to take care of their health to avoid heart-related
conditions after the outcomes of elections.
According to Moronkola, who works with the Lagos University Teaching
Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos, politicians should go for regular medical
checkup, especially those above 50 years old, and ensure that they
comply with their medications.
In his words, “there are a lot of health complications that can occur
in politicians and people who are really interested in politics after
the release of election results. Most of them may have heart-related
issues they are nursing or treating such as hypertension, diabetes and
so on, before elections.“During elections period, some of them hardly sleep, which can
degenerate into heart-related conditions, especially if they fail to
comply with their doctor’s advice on drugs usage. It can also lead to
emotional stress which may affect their heart and develop to stroke
after hearing the results.“We should also realize that it is not only those that lost the
elections that can develop heart-related conditions. Those that won
elections too can develop an attack due to sudden joy and happiness
which can cause sudden heart failure,’’ Moronkola said.
He advised politicians to add health awareness and screening to their
election campaign, especially for those above 40 years old.
“Adults above 40 years should try to know their blood pressure
numbers in order to detect any irregularity. It is very important for
them to have adequate knowledge of the dangers surrounding irregular
medical checkup and what can lead to serious heart diseases. Those with
family history of heart-related diseases should continue to go for
constant screening to ensure prevention,’’ he said.