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A government-sponsored mass screening of 1.3 crore people aged above 30 years for non-communicable diseases has led to the discovery of a substantial number of fresh cases of hypertension, diabetes and various cancers.
Over 9.01 lakh people (close to 7 per cent of the 1.3 crore screened) were newly identified to have high blood pressure. Of the 97.78 lakh persons screened for diabetes, 8.9 lakh (over 9 per cent) were newly found to have high blood sugar levels. Of 71.85 lakh persons screened for oral cancer, 13,747 tested positive.
Cancer epidemic
The data released by the Union Health Ministry said 1,495 oral cancer patients were on treatment currently and the newly identified cases are up to ten times higher than the number on treatment.
Similarly, over 16.67 lakh women were screened for breast cancer and 12,098 were newly identified to be positive, while only 1,848 women are on treatment. Screening of over 12.26 lakh women for cervical cancer threw up equally alarming figures, with 11, 923 newly identified cases while 872 women are on treatment currently.
New heath centres
The screening was done at 10,252 health and wellness centres (HWCs) that were opened across the country less than a year ago. These centres are envisioned to provide preventive healthcare and are the first point of contact for a person seeking healthcare in their vicinity.
The top States to have started HWCs are Andhra Pradesh (1,361), Tamil Nadu (1,318), Uttar Pradesh (912), Karnataka (700) and Kerala (678).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in 2018 than 1.5 lakh HWCs would be opened by 2022 under the Ayushman Bharat plan which also entails extending cashless health insurance to 10 crore families. Opening 1.5 lakh HWCs by 2022 would entail building at least 50,000 HWCs every year in the coming three years.
Critics say this is an unrealistic target. Up to 21,411 HWCs have been approved for building till date. “But according to available resources, we can build only 15,000 HWCs this year,” Union Health Secretary Preeti Sudan had earlier told BusinessLine.
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