Kerala is working towards combating lifestyle diseases with focus on diabetes which is increasingly on the rise in the State, Health and Family Welfare Minister Veena George said.

Insufficient physical exercise and altered food habits are contributing to rising cases of blood-sugar among the people of Kerala. Curbing it requires a change in public consciousness and conviction, she said while launching the Ksheera Karunya Hastham scheme by Malabar Regional Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union (MRCMPU) under Milma, providing monetary aid to treat dairy farmers’ children suffering from type-1 diabetes.

This novel project by MRCMPU merits encouragement. The government is extending full support to it” the Minister said about the project that will benefit the families of all dairy farmers who supply milk to the co-operative societies under MRCMPU.

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Noting that MRCMPU’s has one lakh farmers associated with 1,167 cooperatives, she said in a video address at the online function organised by Kerala Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (KCMMF) that the union produces 7.6 lakh litres of milk every day.

Ksheera Karunya Hastham, which envisages to meet the expenses for insulin and doctor’s fees to treat the type-1 diabetic children below 18 years, is the country’s first endeavour of its kind. The launch comes amid increasing instances of type-1 diabetes among teenagers and a general unwillingness to disclose the matter publicly. Girls are predominantly the victims of this disease, according to studies.

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Milma MRCMPU Chairperson K S Mani said that the number of beneficiaries under the new scheme may not be large, but the message is big.

Only recently Milma had launched a scheme that envisaged monetary help to families bereaved owing to Covid, he added.

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