New Delhi, July 1st (PTI) Chief Justice of India (CJI) NV Ramana on Thursday called on the government to intervene and put in place a comprehensive policy framework for the prevention of diabetes, saying it is affecting people of all ages today.
“It will be a huge task for a country our size, with enormous backwardness and poverty. This disease is a costly proposition for those who fall victim to it. If this disease is to be combated effectively, the state must resign.” on a grand scale, “said Judge Ramana.
He spoke to the medical community on National Doctors’ Day to mark the launch of the Defeat Diabetes Campaign initiated by the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes.
Doctors and researchers aptly described diabetes as an “opportunistic killer,” and today it affects people of all classes and ages. This alarming surge requires immediate attention from all concerned, the CJI said.
He stressed the need to develop diabetes awareness campaigns on the scale of anti-tobacco and pulse polio campaigns and to expand the medical infrastructure for testing, monitoring, guidance and healing.
Referring to the data, to emphasize the gravity of the situation, he said India has “the highest number of diabetes patients with 65 million Indians suffering from diabetes”.
“What’s even more shocking is that almost eight percent of the population over the age of 18 has the disease. That number is expected to rise to 101.2 million by 2030, ”said the CJI.
Judge Ramana suggested that a comprehensive policy framework should be put in place with the awareness campaign also being part of the diabetes eradication program.
For the program to be successful it needs to be integrated into a free and universal public health system, he said, adding that the country will never achieve the goal if left to the individual.
“These problems require the formulation of a public health policy for the prevention and treatment of diabetes in India based on extensive scientific research,” said the CJI.
He also spoke about the need to bridge the gap in awareness of the disease, its prevention and management in the country.
Judge Ramana said awareness levels in rural areas and among the vulnerable classes were negligible, leading to quackery and myth-building.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News Feed. LatestLY Staff may not have changed or edited the content.)
