Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar/Aurangabad News: A 54-year-old businessman, Kawaljit Singh Bagga, tragically died while working out in a gym in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city, central Maharashtra, on Saturday morning. A video of the incident, which has surfaced on social media, shows Bagga collapsing while exercising with a group of people.
The footage shows the man, wearing a black turban, performing warm-up exercises with a group. He appears uneasy and eventually stops exercising, standing in a corner of the gym. Shortly thereafter, Bagga collapses. Although fellow gym members rushed to his aid, their efforts were in vain as he had already passed away.
News agency PTI cited sources within his family as informing that Bagga was a fitness enthusiast and a regular at the gym. On the day of the incident, he was following his usual routine when he suddenly collapsed.
Bagga was promptly rushed to a nearby hospital, but doctors pronounced him dead upon arrival.
According to India Today, Bagga died of a heart attack. However, PTI reported that family sources did not elaborate on the specific cause of his death.
This incident is part of a concerning trend of increasing heart attacks in gyms, which has alarmed both fitness enthusiasts and medical professionals. Experts attribute this rise to the heightened intensity of workouts, underlying health conditions, and insufficient precautions.
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Heart Attack Cases: Health Experts Warn Gym Goers In Mid-30s And 40s To Undergo Medical Evaluation
In May, health experts issued warnings to gym-goers, especially those in their mid-30s and 40s, urging them to undergo thorough medical evaluations before commencing any exercise regimen, news agency IANS reported. This warning came in the wake of several sudden heart attack cases in India, with at least four individuals—three young adults and one minor—succumbing to heart attacks in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat within a 24-hour period.
Dr Manish Aggarwal, Senior Consultant and Head of Interventional Cardiology at PSRI Hospital, emphasised the importance of gradual onset and staggered duration of exercise to match an individual's tolerance level. According to IANS, he noted, "A doctor's assessment can warn of any risk factors for coronary artery disease, diabetes, hypertension, or a strong family history of heart disease, which can help avert any untoward incidents."
Additionally, lifestyle factors such as tobacco smoking, increased intake of junk foods rich in salt, sugar, and unhealthy oils, and lack of exercise have been identified as major contributors to the rising heart attack cases in the country.
The tragic news from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar mirrors other incidents from last year when several people collapsed during Garba events in Gujarat during Navratri, with at least ten fatalities, the youngest being just 17 years old. While heart attacks have long been a concern, the Covid-19 virus and the vaccine have been speculated as potential risk factors.
Notably, British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has admitted that its Covid vaccine, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford and sold as Covishield in India, can cause 'very rare' blood clot risk. These clots can narrow the arteries leading to the heart, potentially causing heart attacks.