18% of people in Jammu region suffering from diabetes: Jitendra Singh

Jammu, Oct 20: Union Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh Sunday stated that the “overall burden of the diabetes disease in Jammu region, covering its 10 districts is 18.9 percent, with 26.5 percent in urban areas and 14.5 per cent in rural areas which is higher than the national average.”

Singh, who is also a nationally renowned diabetologist, quoted this while releasing the Jammu-related data of the ‘first of its kind’ world’s largest survey 'ICMR-India Diabetes 'INDIAB' Study to assess the prevalence of Diabetes in India, including Jammu and Kashmir in Jammu today.

According to the ICMR-INDIAB study, 10.8 percent of the population in the Jammu region is affected by pre-diabetes, emphasising the urgent need for action against the growing burden of NCDs in the region.

Expressing concern over the rising cases of diabetes in the region, the union minister called upon everyone, including medical institutions, NGOs and the media to create awareness in the society about the disease in order to prevent and control it before it assumed an alarming proportion.

“Government Medical College Jammu and AIIMS Jammu are also working in this direction. We will speak to the new J&K government also on this account and NGOs should also come forward as diabetes is too serious to be left only to the government to tackle,” Singh said while speaking to media persons.

The Jammu phase surveyed 1520 participants across urban and rural areas, providing critical insights into the region’s health landscape.

As per the survey, the overall prevalence of hypertension, generalised obesity and abdominal obesity in Jammu is 27.1 percent, 41.7 percent, and 62.7 percent.

The study was conducted by the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation with the collaboration of ICMR and the Department of Health Research.

Padma Shri awardee Dr V Mohan, who is also the national coordinator and principal investigator, while speaking on this occasion said, “Around 16 percent of India’s urban population is suffering from diabetes.”

He is also chairman, Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre.

Describing the ICMR - India Diabetes (INDIAB) nationwide study as a landmark, Singh said its findings would help to estimate the health burden due to Diabetes, prediabetes and metabolic Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

He said that the study would also help in shifting focus to the prevention and control of Diabetes and other NCDs in Jammu and Kashmir.

Singh said that the findings of the study were expected to help policymakers, health professionals and stakeholders to develop targeted interventions for the prevention and management of diabetes and other NCDs in Jammu and across India as it was a national responsibility.

He also mentioned the need for early detection of the disease as well as the need to break the chain of passing from one generation to another by focusing on diabetic pregnant women.

The union minister said the study offered an opportunity for prevention and control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

He called for adopting a multi-sectoral approach involving the government, non-governmental agencies, the community at large as well as the individual to slow down or stop the rising tide of diabetes and other NCDs.

Singh said that all-out efforts must be made to prevent the youth from falling prey to this preventable disease.

Calling the youth architects of a Vikisit Bharat, the minister said that proper care of their health and well-being must be taken by all the stakeholders.

He said that the energy and potential of youngsters could not be consigned to this silent killer, but must be nurtured and preserved to realise the goal of a developed India by the year 2047.

The union minister informed that the government was setting up nearly 1.50 lakh health and wellness centres across the country with a focus on prevention and control of NCDs like diabetes, hypertension, and some forms of cancer.

Singh called for tapping the vast expanse of unexplored Himalayan resources of J&K.

He said these resources have a huge potential for making a value addition to India’s economy.

The union minister expressed happiness at the recent impressive economic growth of India and said that India has now joined the league of the top five economies of the world while mentioning that the journey from fragile five to the top five economies of the world has been momentous.

“If the vast bioresources of J&K are tapped, they will contribute to India’s growth story in the times to come,” he said. The minister credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi with bringing in a preventable healthcare ecosystem in the country, saying prior to the COVID pandemic, this concept was alien to India.

“Credit goes to Prime Minister Narendra for awakening the nation to the virtues of preventable healthcare, using traditional medicines like Ayurveda and Unani, and practising yoga for health,” he said.

“It is at the initiative of PM Modi that 1.5 lakh Wellness Centres are to be opened across the country,” the minister said.