World Health Day: Uptick in number of people seeking preventive healthcare

PUNE Due to the impact of Covid-19 on those with comorbidities and India having the highest number of people with comorbidities, be it diabetes, hypertension or even rising obesity, an increasing number of citizens are now turning towards preventive healthcare checkups

PUNE Due to the impact of Covid-19 on those with comorbidities and India having the highest number of people with comorbidities, be it diabetes, hypertension or even rising obesity, an increasing number of citizens are now turning towards preventive healthcare checkups. As a result, hospitals are now focusing more on preventive health checkups for and control of lifestyle diseases.

Due to the impact of Covid-19 on those with comorbidities, be it diabetes, hypertension or even rising obesity, an increasing number of citizens are now turning towards preventive healthcare checkups. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

City hospitals and diagnostic centres are seeing more patients coming forward who are focused on preventive healthcare. Dr Sanjay Ingle, zonal technical head (west) and consultant pathologist, Apollo Diagnostics, said, “There has been a definite uptick in the number of people seeking preventive health checkups across all age groups post the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in January. Most preventive checkups have risen in the age group of 40 to 60 where senior citizens are more concerned about their health after the pandemic as they were most affected by it. The most common preventive health checkups include diabetic checkups, bone health checkups, comprehensive health checkups, heart health, kidney health and orthopaedic checkups.”

Dr H K Sale, executive director at Noble hospital, said, “As non Covid-19 services open up, we are seeing more patients come forward to take care of their overall health. There is a slow trend in which preventive checkups and tests are seeing a rise as more people have now become aware. Also senior citizens who earlier ignored the signs are now enquiring about preventive health checkups. The main focus now is preventive action for diabetes and hypertension which can be controlled if not prevented through correct action.”

However the move towards preventive healthcare is still slow, according to Dr Avdhut Bodhamwad, medical superintendent at Ruby Hall Clinic. “People want to be more fit and youngsters are concentrating more on fitness by going to the gym and trying to stay lean and fit, however focus on wellness is most important. We recently conducted a random sugar level checkup of 500 samples out of which 200 samples showed high sugar levels. However only 10% returned for a follow-up checkup. People in India still have a mentality to go to the doctor only when something goes wrong,” he said.