Concerned at the high incidence of diabetes in the country, especially among children, the Centre will soon launch a diabetes screening scheme for schoolchildren. It also proposes screening of all individuals for the disease in the next five years.
This was disclosed by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad at the launch of the urban slum health check-up scheme for diabetes and blood pressure here on Sunday, the World Diabetes Day.
The scheme has been introduced in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. The Centre will provide the test kit, including the glucometers, and the States will chip in with logistics.
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Initially, the scheme targeted people aged 30 and above, but now it covers pregnant women too.
Mr. Azad said the government had identified 100 districts and slum areas of 30 cities with more than 10 lakh population, where approximately 17-18 crore people would be screened through 20,000 sub-centres. The scheme would be implemented in the remaining period of the 11{+t}{+h} plan, and in 12{+t}{+h} plan, the other parts of the country would be covered.
The scheme, Mr. Azad said, was aimed at not just creating data but at informing the people about the availability of treatment and sensitising them to precautions through SMS. The screened people would be given cards, which would have the results of the tests, and the details, including their socio-economic parameters and contact details, would be added to the database.
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Free insulin doses would be given to poor patients.
‘Assessment of Burden on Non-Communicable Diseases, 2006,' a publication of the Indian Council of Medical Research, puts the number of adults suffering from diabetes in India in 2004 at 37.77 million, including 21.40 million in urban areas. The increase in prevalence is primarily due to unhealthy diet, obesity and sedentary lifestyle.