E-Paper
Health of the nation
The first-ever compilation by the World Health Organisation of global death from diabetes figures shows that the lifestyle disorder has caused more fatalities than tuberculosis and cancer.
The first-ever compilation by the World Health Organisation of global death from diabetes figures shows that the lifestyle disorder has caused more fatalities than tuberculosis and cancer. In India alone, 39.9 million people have diabetes and one in five Indians dies of diabetes. What is worrisome is that this appears to be a revelation even for our government. The new data shows an alarming increase — seven-fold in 10 years — of diabetes among the population. Will the government heed this data or will it issue the stock denial? It may be worth pointing out that its recent denials of UN reports on deaths from malnutrition and the numbers of HIV-infected fly in the face of its commissioning of the first national death census, a few months ago, to tabulate causes of death.
Despite the increasing incidence of diabetes, no alarm bells have rung in the Health Ministry. This apathy points to the basic malaise that India’s healthcare system suffers from — a narrow focus on tackling only short-term communicable diseases like malaria. State policy neglects, at the nation’s peril, chronic ailments like diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases and respiratory illnesses. These conditions that affect a person’s health in the long run can be fairly well-addressed through a wider approach of awareness, sensitisation and public will to bring about the desired change. Despite Indians apparently being genetically vulnerable to its onset, diabetes can be very well controlled through physical activity and by maintaining the right diet. But while there seem to be endless ‘papers’ on developing ‘public health’, there is little progress in following strategy with action plans.
India’s health policy focuses on ‘disease’ and not on ‘health’. We are well on the way to becoming the disease grosser of the world — home to the highest number of malnourished children, the highest number of HIV-affected and now diabetics. Health is much more than the prevention of disease. An efficient public healthcare system has as much to do with disbursal of health and measuring the progress of its programmes as it has to do with ensuring accessibility to treatment. Ignoring the former will only compound the cost of the latter.
