World Health Day: India needs to prioritize prevention & wellness to check NCDs

New Delhi: Mental illnesses, along with diabetes and heart diseases are estimated to cost USD 6 trillion loss to our economy by 2030.On the eve of the World Health Day, NATHEALTH, a healthcare industry body, has made a clarion call to prioritize prevention and wellness to check growing burden of non-communicable disease (NCD) in the country.

"An onslaught of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) has resulted in a dual disease burden even as the country continues to struggle to combat communicable diseases (CDs). Focus on prevention and wellness is limited, reflecting a highly unorganized primary-care system and a long-standing curative bias among patients and caregivers.

Compounding the situation is an inadequate delivery infrastructure, talent shortage and limited funding from public and private sources," said Anjan Bose, secretary general, NATHEALTH.

Adding, "this year the theme for World Health Day is mental illness which has emerged as one of the leading lifestyle diseases and healthcare service providers need to gear up to deal with this growing challenge effectively and the best way would be more focus on prevention and wellness".

According to NATHEALTH, healthcare in India is at crossroads and as a nation India has made noteworthy progress in several macro-health parameters.

"Despite evolution on multiple fronts, however, India still struggles with substantial issues and gaps in its healthcare system. Out-of-pocket spending is still considerably high.

The strong bias towards curative care reflects a culture in which prevention and wellness receive only limited focus," Bose said.

Increasing urbanization has led to an explosion of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and India now carries a dual burden of communicable diseases (CDs) and non-communicable diseases (NCDs).The wisest way to fight this dual battle is for the Private Sector to complement and supplement the Government`s efforts.