An Indian woman’s treatment of her heart attack was helped by a physiotherapist who could tell her when her body was fatigued, and when she needed rest, a report has said.

Dr Arjun N. Bhaskar, a senior lecturer in orthopaedic surgery at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said he met the woman who suffered a massive cardiac arrest in September last year.

The woman, who did not wish to be identified, said she had just finished her physiotherapy session when she collapsed and died in her home.

Dr Bhaskars report, published in the International Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, says that in a two-minute meeting with Dr Bhasker, the woman could tell the physiotherapists that her heart rate was rising.

The report says she told him she was not ready to be revived and that she wanted to die.

Dr Bhashkar said he could tell that she had been fatigued by physiotherapy.

“She could tell me her heart rhythm, and she could tell when she was fatiguing her heart, so I could tell to her to stop her physiotherapeutic session,” Dr Bhashars report said.

“She told me she was tired and I could take her to the hospital.”

Dr Bhakkar said she was sent home.

“It is unfortunate that I did not call her to tell her to rest,” he said.

India’s healthcare system is struggling with chronic shortage of medical personnel and equipment, as well as a lack of beds and hospital beds for people who need them.

Some hospitals, including the national capital’s St John’s Hospital, are running out of bed space and equipment.

Dr N. V. P. Nair, a professor of internal medicine at Delhi’s Jawahalaya University, told the Indian Express newspaper that the number of physiotheracists in India has fallen by more than 80 per cent in the last 15 years.

“We need more and more of them in our hospitals,” Dr Nair said.