Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Sept 28: Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad today said that incidence of vascular diseases are increasing at an alarming rate in the country and over 90 million Indians are at risk of various types of vascular diseases including stroke, peripheral arterial disease (PAD), carotid artery disease and aortic aneurysms.
Addressing the 19th Annual Conference of Vascular Society of India at Jaipur, Mr Azad said that his Ministry has already launched a national programme to prevent and control cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and stroke in 100 backward districts of the country.
“Over 10 million persons of 30 years and above have been screened so far for diabetes and hypertension. Out of this, 7.27 % are suspected for diabetes and 6.44 % for hypertension. In addition to this, a cardiac care unit is being set up in 100 districts of the country where funds for infrastructure, equipment, human resources and drugs will be provided by Health Ministry”, he added.
According to the World Health Organization, of the 58 million deaths taking place across the globe, approximately 35 million were due to chronic non-communicable diseases. In India, NCDs like CVDs, diabetes, chronic obstructive lung disease, cancer and injuries have already become the dominant cause of disease burden contributing about 2/3rd of the total disease burden.
The number of deaths attributed to chronic diseases was 3.78 million in 1990— 40.4 % of all deaths and is projected to reach 7.63 million in 2020— 66.7% of all deaths. About 38 million persons were affected with cardio-vascular diseases in 2005 and the number may go up to 64 million by 2015. High blood pressure is as common as 10-15% in the adult population, more so in metros and large cities.
Mr Azad said that India has only 59 doctors for every 100,000 people, which is much less than the ratio prevailing in developed countries. “Our doctors are taking care of a huge population and disease burden despite their very limited number in the country. Vascular surgery as a specialty has grown leaps and bounds in the last decade in India, which has helped many needy patients. However, many lives and limbs are still lost due to the non-availability of timely assistance and expertise”, he added.
He hoped that VSI would conduct workshops in other cities too to train MS General Surgery students so that the benefits of this field could be made available to as many surgeons as possible.
The Union Health Minister also released souvenir brought out on the occasion.
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