Padma Bhushan awardee and gastroenterologist of international repute, Dr. Duvvuri Nageshwara Reddy, has said that the single most important public health intervention that the Indian government needs to concentrate on and implement is making available ‘safe drinking water’ to its populace.
In an exclusive interview with The Hindu , Dr. Reddy attributed more than 50 per cent of all gastroenterological diseases to unclean drinking water.
In the Rayalaseema districts, where groundnut is grown cultivated in large scale, groundwater is polluted owing to the presence of Aflatoxin, while people of Godavari districts are forced to consume water with guinea worm infestation.
Dr. Reddy said the Asian Institute of Gastro-Enterology (AIG), of which he is the chairman, was creating awareness about the necessity of rural populace shifting to safe drinking water.
Arguing that life expectancy in developed countries had seen a dramatic increase primarily owing to public health interventions like ensuring safe and clean drinking water for its populace, Dr Reddy pitched strongly for the government increasing its efforts in that direction.
He also said that the need for understanding epidemological statistics by mapping them was necessary to better understand the priorities and thrust areas for public health in India.
“Technology will change the face of medicine in the next 10 years, with new instrumentation playing a major role in gastroenterology. Cutting-edge efforts in research and development at the AIG will ensure better understanding of medical science,” Dr. Reddy said, adding that the defining moment in AIG’s Research and Development efforts in understanding and finding the missing link of various cancers could be expected any time.
Dr Reddy, who is also the recipient of the World Gastroenterology Organisation Award , said his focus and passion for gastroenterology came from the warmth shown to him by his patients.
“It is that two-way relationship between me and the patient that keeps me going keeping alive the urge in me to serve my patients better,” Dr. Reddy said, even as he admitted that awards such as the Padma Bhushan were by-products of the continuing efforts of everyone at AIG.
