Punjab fares poorly in screening people with non-communicable diseases
Punjab is at the 27th place among 28 states and eight union territories in the country. Ironically, the state could achieve only 10% of the given target until March 12, leaving the remaining target almost impossible up to March 31— a cut-off date for the year 2024-25.
Regarding achieving the screening target under the National Programme for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), Punjab is learnt to have continuously been underperforming.
Punjab is at the 27th place among 28 states and eight union territories in the country. Ironically, the state could achieve only 10% of the given target until March 12, leaving the remaining target almost impossible up to March 31— a cut-off date for the year 2024-25. The ministry of health and family welfare has directed Punjab to achieve the target by March 31, 2025.
According to the Union government data, a copy of which is with HT, Telangana, Ladakh, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat are among the best-performing states and UTs, having already achieved their screening targets as of March 12. The data also reveals that Karnataka, Puducherry, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Delhi, West Bengal, Tripura, Punjab, and Nagaland are among the worst-performing states and UTs.
“It has been observed that the per day screening targets have not yet reached 50% of the total expected coverage. Given the urgency of this initiative, I request all states and UTs to escalate efforts and maximise screening activities in the remaining period. Therefore, I urge all of you to direct all officials concerned to make efforts to ensure the screening targets are met by March 31, 2025. Also, it is requested that the data should be updated timely on the NP-NCD portal,” reads the letter by the Union government to all the states and UTs in the country.
Notably, the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) is a population-based screening and management initiative for common NCDs (diabetes, hypertension and cancer viz. oral, breast and cervical cancer).
Under this initiative, prevention, control & screening services are being provided through trained frontline workers (ASHA, ANM & MPWs), and referral support and continuity of care are ensured though PHC, CHC, district hospitals and other tertiary care institutions.
According to the Union government data, around 92.34 lakh target population — aged above 30 years — had to be screened for non-communicable diseases in Punjab. However, only 9.99 lakh people have been screened for hypertension and 8.79 lakh for diabetes mellitus (DM) by the state health department so far.
When asked about the slow screening, Punjab health department officials claimed that around 80 lakh people had already been screened, however, the data had not been uploaded on the portal.
“We have asked districts to ramp up the screening in the coming days to achieve the target for 2024-25 by March-end. Besides, uploading the screening data is a cumbersome process. The process of uploading data was hit due to the shortage of manpower in some districts,” said a senior health officer privy to the programme.
Phone calls and text messages to Ganshyam Thori, mission director, National Health Mission, didn’t elicit any response.