india

Updated: Feb 23, 2019 08:10 IST

At least 10 million people were screened for common non-communicable diseases (NCDs) at the 10,000 health and wellness centres (HWC) operational under the Narendra Modi government’s flagship Ayushman Bharat scheme, a Union health ministry statement said.

The first HWC was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Chhattisgarh on April 14 last year. Since then 10,252 such centres have been operationalised.

Of the 10.3 million people screened above 30 years of age, 1.8 million were suffering from diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, oral, cervix and breast cancer, said the health ministry. Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala lead the way with the highest number of HWCs under Ayushman Bharat scheme.

Andhra Pradesh has the maximum number of centres (1,361) running, followed by Tamil Nadu (1,318), Uttar Pradesh (912), Karnataka (700) and Kerala with 678 HWCs.

The NCDs are proving to be a bigger problem than infectious diseases, and as a result the Union health ministry had started door-to-door screening programme to identify those affected and put them on treatment in time, said ministry officials.

“These are people who otherwise wouldn’t have known they were suffering from hypertension or diabetes that have the potential to damage organs in the long run. This initiative is to screen as many people as possible so that those found positive will be put on early treatment,” said a senior health ministry official.

The National Health Policy, 2017, recommended strengthening the delivery of primary healthcare, through establishment of HWCs as the platform to deliver Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC).