A renewed non-communicable disease (NCD) clinic is all set to be opened at the District General Hospital. It will offer an edge in the management of metabolic diseases with equipment to screen complications too.
In most NCD clinics at primary health centres, there is no particular equipment to screen complications arising out of conditions like diabetes and hypertension. Rural clinics simply test blood parameters to determine the disease status, after which an increased level of blood sugar or hypertension is managed with medication alone.
The new clinic at GH will have the role of adviser for the management of lifestyle diseases. Accordingly, counselling will be offered on adopting changes in lifestyle, apart from screening for complications.
The clinic will also document patients’ records on an e-Health platform. This will be the first time that medical records will be made for OP. GH had started with creating medical records for in-patients as part of the NABH certification process.
The spurt in NCD like an epidemic is making policy-makers take up projects that can become part of health services. Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Rajeev Sadanandan told The Hindu that lifestyle disease prevalence is said to be around 65% in the population of over 47 years of age.
Provisional data from NCD clinics at primary health centres across the State calls for better management of lifestyle diseases, he said. As there are no screening systems to detect complications caused by lifestyle diseases, the new project at GH will be the first-of-its-kind under a national-level scheme itself, said Mr. Sadanandan. The government has provided space under Aardram for the project, while the National Health Mission will provide personnel. The funding for the initiative is through corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Diabetic retinopathy, peripheral neuropathy, kidney disorders, and cardiac complications prevail in people with long-time diabetes, hypertension, and cholesterol imbalances.
Published - November 10, 2018 01:19 am IST
