An epidemiological survey will be conducted in the State to create a comprehensive map of diseases, Health Minister K.K. Shylaja has said.
Inaugurating the 10th anniversary of the Friends for Cancer Care, a forum of cancer survivors started under the auspices of the Malabar Cancer Care Society (MCCS) here on Saturday, the Minister said the survey was planned to secure a picture of the State’s health issues including health conditions, patterns of diseases, and their prevalence. “Though Kerala is known for high literacy and good living standards, high rate of morbidity is still a matter of concern,” the Minister said. The State had health-care institutions and facilities and the problems in the health-care sector were aplenty, she added. Observing that the government’s plan was to stress on prevention of diseases, she said the survey would help to chalk out decisions in this regard, she said.
Ms. Shylaja said the government had set 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as part of the health component of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Lifestyle diseases
Under this programme, high rate of lifestyle diseases in the State would be studied, she said. She also said that the government was committed to ensure that eradicated diseases did not re-appear in the State. The reason why the rate of cancer cases were increasing in the State also had to be studied, she said.
The Minister also said that e-Health registry would be introduced in six districts in the first phase.
Also in the pipe line was the initiative to refurbish hospitals from taluk hospitals to medical college hospitals, she said. The government had already taken steps to fill vacancies of doctors in the hospitals, she said, adding her dream was to introduce family doctor system in the State. In the first phase, primary health care centres would be turned into family health care centres, the Minister said.
P.K. Sreemathi, MP, presided. MCCS president D. Krishnanadha Pai, FORCE convener M. Narayanan and District Medical Officer K. Narayanan Nair were among those present at the function
