Govt to launch pilot on diabetes

The government is planning to launch a pilot project (proposed to be the world's largest) to study diabetes and hypertension diseases, said Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

“According to the World Health Organisation’s report, India is the hub for diabetics. To find out the solution, we cannot depend on other organisations, so we have mooted this proposal,” he said at the 54th All India Congress of Obstetrics and Family Welfare, organised by the Obstetrics and Gynaecologists Society of Hyderabad, here.

In the next 15 months, before the 12th Five Year Plan, the government would implement the proposal. It has already selected around 100 districts in 21 states. The scheme would cover 150-180 million population (both men and women above 30 years) in rural areas and 33 cities.

The government would also launch a comprehensive action plan focusing on mother and childcare. Contraceptives will be provided to the current 25,000 primary health centres (PHC) and 150,000 subcentres in the country. It would be provided directly to the PHCs without the intermediary of state governments. The ministry would bear the transportation cost and ANMs (Auxiliary Nurse & Midwife), anganwadi workers and Asha workers would deliver them at the doorsteps.

Family planning is one of the major issues in India. The country’s share of land is only 2.5 per cent of the world’s total land, whereas the population is 17 per cent of the total world’s population. “It shows if one house is built for two-and-a-half people, 17 individuals have to share that house. We are focusing more on controlling the population and working on various family planning measures,” he said.

The minister said around Rs 1,100 crore would be allocated this year for strengthening paramedical institutions.

The government is also planning to launch a whistle blower programme to check female feticide, by next year. “This whistle blower initiative in on the lines of the whistle blower programme for the use of spurious drugs,” Azad said.

The whistle blower programme for the use of spurious drugs, launched in 2010, comprises a reward of Rs 25 lakh for both public and officers who help seize spurious and adulterated drugs.