The Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu has described the rise in
non-communicable diseases as a “deeply disturbing trend” and called upon the
medical fraternity to educate the people on the dangers of leading sedentary
lifestyles.Addressing the Annual Meeting of the National Interventional Council
(NIC) of the Cardiological Society of India at the Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate
Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGIMS), Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh today, the Vice President quoting a 2017 report of
India Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said that disease burden from
non-communicable diseases increased from 30 per cent to 55 per cent between
1990 and 2016, while the communicable diseases dropped from 61 per cent to 33
per cent in the same period.Pointing out that factors such as high levels of
stress, increased incidence of diabetes, blood pressure, smoking, excessive
consumption of alcohol, lack of exercise and lack of proper sleep were
contributing to cardiovascular diseases, he said that lifestyle modification
was one of the key interventions needed to prevent premature heart attacks.Shri
Naidu said that it had been proven beyond doubt that regular moderate intensity
aerobic exercise like brisk walking, cycling, jogging, and swimming for five
days a week would help in reducing the probability of heart disease.Observing
that India stands poised to reap the biggest demographic dividend in history,
he opined that a healthy and agile youth was essential to achieve its dream of
inclusive and sustainable development and occupy its rightful place of
leadership in the world. He stressed the need to encourage children to be
physically active and be involved in sports and games right from school days to
avoid NCDs.Referring to the growing fad for junk food among youngsters, he
advised them to say no to junk food as it was causing harm to their health and
in turn affecting quality of life.Shri Naidu said that the nation must invest
much of our resources in prevention and early detection of disease. He called
for massive screening drives to identify risk factors for cardiovascular
disease among people and take preventive measures.
Observing that primary health centres must serve
as bulwarks in our battle against cardiovascular disease, the Vice President
stressed that transforming PHCs into a robust, responsive and well equipped
network of institutions was important.Mentioning that the nation has improved
the penetration of healthcare services across the country, Shri Naidu said that
increase in the at-birth life expectancy from around 37 years in 1951 to around
68.3 years in 2011-15 has been the most noteworthy achievement in the public
health arena since Independence.The Vice President also advised medical
students to render service for at least three years in Primary Health Centres
in rural areas, before taking up new assignments.Stating that India must invest
more resources in R & D, he said unimaginable advancements were being made
in Medical Science. “Cutting edge research in disruptive technologies such as
Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), including machine learning and
augmented reality are altering the paradigms of medical science”, he
added.Calling for improving our health sector in terms of quality,
accessibility and affordability, the Vice President said "Although our
health care services are among the cheapest in the world, some of the life
saving drugs and procedures are still beyond the reach of the common man. All
the stakeholders in the health sectors need to work in synergy to health care
affordable and accessible to common man".The Vice President said India
must also stand out and serve as a model for quality, affordable healthcare for
other nations to emulate. “I have no
doubt that we have the capability to achieve this goal and more”, he addedThe
Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Ram Naik, the Director, Sanjay Gandhi Post
Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Rakesh Kapoor, the President
(Elect), Cardiological Society of India, Dr. M.K. Das and other dignitaries
were present on the occasion.