Bengaluru: Despite the city sitting on the diabetes bomb, with physicians seeing a 200% increase in incidence levels of diabetes and many people below forty years of age, accessing timely healthcare, diagnosis takes a back seat.
“It is alarming to note that in tier-1 cities, physicians are seeing a 200% increase in incidence levels of diabetes. Stress, lack of physical activity and sedentary lifestyle are some of the plausible reasons behind this unprecedented rise,” says Dr Shashank Joshi, President.
Endocrine Society of India. Also, a recent survey done by eMediNexus which is a professional networking platform for doctors, health experts feel the active need for public-private partnership required for diabetes control.
Sadly, timely treatment takes a backseat as it becomes an out- of-pocket expenditure for many. The majority of countries spend between 5% and 20% of their total health expenditure on diabetes, whereas India, with the second-highest number of people living with diabetes, spends less than 3% of the global total (ID23 billion) expenditure on diabetes.
The latest WHO Global Health Expenditure Database notes that in 2013, 85.9% of total private health expenditure in India was paid out-of-pocket by individuals. 30% of identified illnesses in rural India and 20% in urban areas go untreated due to financial constraints.
For patients to access healthcare facilities for well-timed diagnosis and treatment, policy makers and healthcare experts need to focus on increasing public spend on health.
Adequate allocation of resources and funds in the healthcare sector will help patients seek treatment at the primary stage of the onset of the disease,” says Dr Kenneth E Thorpe, Chairman, Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD).
