Expressing concern over the increasing number of casualties due to the non-communicable and lifestyle diseases, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday called upon the medical fraternity to take up a campaign to educate people on the measures to be adopted for preventing lifestyle diseases.
“We are seeing a double burden of diseases, infectious ailments as well as an increased incidence in lifestyle diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, heart disease and cancers. It is estimated that 62% deaths among men and 52% among women are due to non-communicable diseases,” he said while addressing the golden jubilee celebrations of the Rangaraya Medical College Old Students Association (RAMCOSA) here.
‘Ayushman Bharat’
Observing that leading a healthy and active life was important by avoiding sedentary lifestyle and adopting healthy dietary habits, he said that the flagship initiative of ‘Ayushman Bharat’ to provide insurance coverage and comprehensive, need-based healthcare would address problems faced by people like huge out-of-pocket expenditure and accessing modern healthcare facilities.
“Experts have been pointing out that the onset of these diseases is typically a decade earlier in India as compared to developed countries. This is a matter of concern and calls for a concerted action from all the stakeholders — government, doctors, public health experts, policymakers and healthcare planners — to reverse the trend and prevent the growing incidence of lifestyle diseases,” he said.
High standards
Referring to another challenge of maintaining the doctor patient ratio, Mr. Naidu said that though doctor-patient ratio was less than the 1:1000 norm prescribed by the WHO, there had been a lot of improvement in this aspect mainly due to the private medical institutions. “I am sure, various initiatives of the National Medical Council will bring uniformity in providing high standards in medical education across the country,” he added. Expressing concern over the missing of ‘personal touch’ in medical care, the Vice President advised the doctors to spend more time with the patients and establish personal bond with the attendants as well. “This seems to have taken a back seat due to work pressure, increased reliance on investigations and commercialisation of the profession. The personal bonding is important as a doctor’s gentle touch and kind words can soothe the frayed nerves of a nervous patient and produce a calming effect,” he said, adding that the medical fraternity should always focus on betterment in all aspects of medical care.
Home Minister N. Chinarajappa, MP K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao, former Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas and others were present.
