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Tamil Nadu
“Economic burden of diabetes in India among highest in world”
| There is a sharp rise in the number of people with diabetes in U.K. |
SEEKING COOPERATION: Pratap C. Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals, greeting Ann Keen, United Kingdom’s Minister for Health Services, at a seminar in Chennai on Wednesday. T.T. Ashok, chairman-Task Force, CII (SR) (second from left) and Mike Connor, British Deputy High Commissioner, are in the picture.
CHENNAI: “It is only by working together and pooling resources and knowledge that we will be able to ensure that diabetes and diabetes-related diseases are identified, and prevented in future,” Ann Keen, United Kingdom’s Minister for Health Services said on Wednesday.
Ms. Keen, who is leading a Life Sciences Trade Mission from the U.K. to India, was in Chennai to participate in a seminar organised jointly by U.K. Trade and Investment (UKTI) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on “The Diabetes Challenge.” The mission comprises 25 companies, which have all developed an expertise in the area and are seeking to establish partnerships with Indian companies and hospitals.
Ms.Keen said there was a sharp rise in the number of people with diabetes in the U.K. Around 2.3 million people in the U.K. were confirmed as having diabetes, but there were up to half a million people with diabetes who were thought to be undiagnosed. By 2010, the number of people with confirmed diabetes would reach 3 million, she said.
It was also serious from an economical point of view as diabetes accounted for around 10 per cent of all hospital costs in the U.K.; hospital costs for people with diabetes were about six times higher than for people without the condition.
Due to sheer numbers (40 million diabetics as estimated by the Diabetes Atlas, in 2007), the economic burden of diabetes in India was among the highest in the world, Ms. Keen said.
The WHO estimated that mortality due to diabetes, heart diseases and stroke cost India about $ 210 billion in 2005. The cost would be about $ 333.6 million in the next 10 years in India. She added that the National Service Framework for Diabetes, published in the U.K. in 2001, set out 12 standards for diabetes care. This was followed in 2003 by the delivery strategy to help implement these standards. Five years on, an assessment that was completed in summer this year indicated that the U.K. was getting better at identifying people with diabetes; they were receiving more of the yearly key tests needed to prevent complications.
Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj said there was insufficient infrastructure to treat everyone with diabetes and its complications. Therefore, prevention would be the best strategy for a country such as India, he added.
Outlining Tamil Nadu’s efforts in this area, he said the Varummun Kappom Thittam camps organised over the last two years had screened over 8 million people of whom 2,00,000 had diabetes.
Apollo Hospitals chairman Pratap C. Reddy stressed that the only solution to handling a large number of people with diabetes and cardiovascular diseases was to get individuals involved in their own health management and prevention of chronic diseases.
V.Mohan of Dr.Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre said affordability and accessibility to treatment were issues, especially at the rural level. He called for collaborations with the U.K. in the area of research for producing low-cost technology that would help in diagnostics and treatment, and in education.
David Hawkins, UKTI Lifesciences Specialist, said some of the areas of collaboration the team from Britain were interested in included new technology in imaging, managing disease remotely, education, long-term management, clinical trials and developing new hospitals.
Mike Connor, British Deputy High Commissioner, and T.T.Ashok, chairman, Task Force on International Business Promotion and Networking, CII Southern Region, spoke.
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