The Central Government on Wednesday released operational guidelines for the management of non-communicable diseases in India.
The guidelines were released on the occasion of World Hypertension Day and as a part of a G20 co-branded event today.
Launched under the National Health Mission (NHM), the programme is being implemented to address common NCDs like Cardiovascular Diseases, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), and asthma, chronic kidney diseases, etc.
According to government, currently, the population-based screening (PBS) of common NCDs is being done under Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centres.
The guidelines are drafted focusing on primary and secondary prevention clinical support for NCDs. The government has has identified other priority NCD conditions beyond common NCDs and widened the ambit of the programme by including Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Asthma, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP). Hence, the NPCDCS is now renamed as NP-NCD.
“All the guidelines were shared with States/UTs for implementation by programme managers and other healthcare providers to strengthen health care services for the NCDs across all levels of care, and also to enable a continuum of care approach. The Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary (Health), Mission Director (NHM), Director of Health Services of the States/UTs have to ensure proper implementation of the guidelines across India,” the released document stated.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), NCDs kill 41 million people each year, equivalent to 74% of all deaths globally.
As per the WHO – NCD India profile – 2018, NCDs are estimated to account for 63% of all deaths in country of which the cardiovascular diseases lead with 27% overall mortality cause followed by chronic respiratory diseases (11%), cancers (9%), diabetes (3%) and others (13%).
Along with the operational guidelines, the government also released ‘Roadmap to scale up hypertension and diabetes services in primary healthcare’.
