M Venkaiah Naidu bats for lifestyle clinics

Hyderabad: Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday clinics should be set up to treat non-communicable diseases (NCD). The country was witnessing a troubling epidemiological transition from communicable diseases to NCDs or lifestyle diseases, he said.

Mr Naidu, health summit organised by the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) here, said a national movement should be launched against the growing incidence of non-communicable diseases.

The Vice-President, quoting from the ICMR’s state-level disease burden study said the estimated proportion of all deaths due to NCDs had increased from 37.09 per cent in 1990 to 61.8 per cent in 2016.

“I feel that there is a need to establish NCD clinics both in urban and rural areas and the private sector must play a prominent role in setting up such clinics,” Mr Naidu said.

He asked organisations like AAPI to collaborate with the government and the private sector to conduct screening programmes and take up awareness campaigns against NCDs.

“It is not only the responsibility of doctors, as a society everyone has the responsibility to take part in spreading awareness about healthy lifestyle.”

He said that the Indian Medical Association must take the lead to promote awareness among people, particularly students, on the health hazards caused by sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy dietary habits, he said.

The Vice-President said, “We face a huge shortage in the number of qualified medical practitioners, especially specialists. It is crucial that we address this huge gap by opening more medical colleges and increasing the number of seats at both graduate and post-graduate levels.”