‘Modern lifestyle diseases turning into killers’

Chennai: Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday urged the medical fraternity to campaign against modern day lifestyle as non-communicable diseases (NCD) were turning into killers. Naidu said that NCDs were becoming a major killer and it was incumbent upon the medical fraternity to launch a nationwide campaign to create greater awareness on the health hazards. “Lack of physical activity, poor, unbalanced diets, abuse of tobacco and alcohol and environmental factors are among the factors leading to the development of NCDs,” Naidu said.

Commenting on India’s achievement in the healthcare sector, Naidu said the biggest challenge was building a comprehensive healthcare system amid a huge disparity between urban and rural areas. He said the low public spend, low doctor-patient ratio, low patient-bed ratio, rising out-of-pocket expenditure, dearth of medical colleges and trained doctors, inadequate infrastructure in rural areas, lack of penetration of health insurance and inadequate disease surveillance and preventive mechanisms were the formidable challenges to be addressed. (IANS)

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