'India going through epidemiological transition'

Vellore (Tamil Nadu), May 4: President Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said India is going through an epidemiological transition and faces three challenges in disease control. “First, India has to reduce maternal and infant mortality as well as communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, such as malaria, water-borne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoeal diseases and diseases like measles and tetanus.”

Speaking on the centenary celebrations of the Medical Education programme of the Christian Medical College (CMC), Kovind pointed out that the country had to check the rise in non-communicable or lifestyle diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and many cancers. “And finally, we need to develop systems to detect and cope with new and re-emerging infectious diseases like HIV, flu and H1N1 influenza,” he said in Vellore, around 140 km from Chennai.

Kovind said this calls for interventions across the continuum of care-prevention of disease, promotion of good health practices and treatment and cure in case of an illness. According to the President, the National Health Mission, the National Health Policy and the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme were alive to this broad-based approach and ensure that nobody was deprived of healthcare due to the absence of financial or similar resources. Kovind said the principles that must guide the philosophy of public health were equity and efficiency, quality and quantity, and access and affordability. He said there was an urgent need for reform in medical education to create room for more colleges and more medical graduates. (IANS)