BHUBANESWAR: The State Government has decided to provide medicines to all diabetic patients free of cost. The patients can avail the benefit at the government health centres. If required, they will be supplied free insulin too.
The Essential Drug List (EDL) has been revised recently and all commonly used anti-diabetes medicines including insulin have been added to the list. Accordingly, the annual drug budget has been increased to `200 crore and indent placed for purchase of medicines.
State nodal officer of National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, CVDs and Stroke (NPCDCS) Dr PKB Patnaik said the patients can get the required drugs from Niramaya counters. “A standard treatment protocol for diabetes management has been prepared by State non-communicable disease (NCD) cell and is being circulated to all districts,” he said.
With the modern lifestyle taking its toll, the prevalence of disorders like obesity, insomnia and heart disease has increased leading to the risk of diabetes. The State has an estimated 30 lakh diabetic patients with around 12 per cent from urban areas and seven per cent from rural pockets.
So far, around 35 per cent of the patients have been screened, detected and are getting treatment with the rest remaining undetected.
Nearly 53 lakh people were screened in Nuapada, Bolangir, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Ganjam, Cuttack, Khurda, Sambalpur, Rayagada, Puri, Mayurbhanj, Kalahandi, Sundergarh, Angul, Balasore, Kendrapada, Jajpur, Jharsuguda and Phulbani districts where NPCDCS programme is under implementation.
“Started in 2010-11, the NPCDCS has so far covered 20 districts. We are going to extend it in rest 10 districts this year. People in the age group of 30 and above will be screened along with pregnant women and symptomatic children. At least 40 per cent of the population fall in the age group,” Patnaik said. Under the programme, Glucometers and glucostrips have been provided to all sub-centers, Primary Health Centres (PHCs), Community Health Centres (CHCs), Sub-divisional Hospitals (SDHs) and District Headquarters Hospitals (DHHs). For the screening, an ANM has been provided one Glucometer along with glucostrips.