NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry has launched an ambitious "75/25" plan of bringing 75 million hypertensive and diabetic populations under standard care by 2025, the largest such exercise in the world against Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).
The massive project, which takes off on World Hypertension Day, will be conducted through the country's vast network of Primary Health Centres (PHCs).
The ministry said that 40,000 Primary Health Care Medical Officers would be trained on Standard Treatment Workflow for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCD) to meet the target through the Shashakt Portal.
"The Indian government's ambitious target of reaching 75 million people with hypertension under standard care in primary healthcare by 2025 is the largest cover of NCDs in the world for primary healthcare," Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said virtually.
"This indicates the clear resolve of the government to address NCDs by allocating resources, capacity enhancement, mobilisation and multi-sectoral collaboration," added Dr V K Paul, member health at Niti Aayog at the launch of the initiative.
The country has 200 million hypertensive people, and one in every ten adults has diabetes. NCDs are responsible for 63 per cent of deaths in India of which 55 per cent is premature. These conditions lead to heart attack, stroke, renal failure, and blindness.
The strategy is to scale up hypertension control, equip PHCs with protocols to keep diabetes under check and reduce organ damage.
According to the NCD portal, 26,42,038 diabetic patients were under treatment in March 2023 against 62,30,155 hypertensives in 714 clinics and 6068 Community Health Centres.
Every Health and Wellness centre will cover a population of 5000, 1850 individuals will be screened by 2025, and 80 per cent will be put on treatment by December 2025.
The ministry has also released the operational guidelines of the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases 2023-2030.
Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Region, applauded India’s commitment to primary healthcare and highlighted the operationalization of more than 1.5 lakh Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres as a significant achievement.
She also urged countries in the Southeast Asia region to create a new and effective regional roadmap to accelerate NCD control.
As per WHO, the NCDs are collectively responsible for more than 74 per cent of all deaths worldwide including heart disease, stroke, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.