The BMC has decided to seek the help of doctors deputed at ward war rooms across Mumbai to keep tabs on the condition of citizens suffering from diabetes and hypertension. The doctors will call patients and check if they are taking medicines for the ailments on time.
Senior health officials said the civic body is totally focused on non-communicable, lifestyle diseases like diabetes and hypertension, for which it has allocated Rs12 crore in the 2023-24 health budget. However, as per a survey conducted recently, the hypertension burden has increased by 34% while diabetes is now detected in 18% of individuals above 15 years of age.
Additional Municipal Commissioner Dr Sanjeev Kumar said war rooms at the ward level were set up during the pandemic. “But now they have been roped in to inquire about the condition of hypertension and diabetes patients,” he said.
According to Dr Kumar, a list of patients and their phone numbers will be provided to the war rooms. Moreover, a separate list of patients who have stopped taking medicines midway will also be provided. “While conversing with the doctor, if patients refuse to take medicine, they will be counselled and told how important these medicines are to them,” he said.
Dr Kumar further said they have been taking several steps to reach out to people and control hypertension and diabetes for which door-to-door screening was started and special attention was given at HBT clinics. Moreover, the number of ASHA workers in each ward has also been increased to improve outreach.
“All the patients who have left treatment or stopped taking medicine midway will be counselled and will be taken to the nearest health centre for treatment, ensuring they do not stop again,” he added.
According to the National Family Health Survey-V, one out of every four people in Mumbai is a victim of hypertension and one out of every five people is suffering from diabetes. As per the civic body, the suburbs have more diabetes and hypertension patients than the national average.
Under the national average, there are 22% of people with hypertension in the country, while the Mumbai suburbs have 27.33%. Similarly, the national average of diabetes is 14.5%, compared to 20.3% in the city suburbs.
