CII, Lilly releases National White Paper on "Synergizing Efforts in Diabetes Care at the Tertiary Level"

Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India was present to release the white paper. NCD Summit 2015, aimed at creating a national level platform to strengthen public health strategies for comprehensive diabetes management specifically at Tertiary level.

Speaking on the occasion, Jagdish Prasad, Director General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, highlighted the fact that India is at risk of becoming the diabetes capital of the world by 2025.

“Rapid globalization and lack of precautionary measures is the leading cause of diabetes in the country. Education and preventive screening would be key to avoid the burden of diabetes”, said Dr. Prasad. He stressed on the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and its impact on diabetes. Our focus should be to avoid becoming the diabetes capital of the world," he said.

This year’s white paper drafted with support from Population Services International (PSI) is based on the recommendations that emerged from thematic roundtable discussions held in Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai and Guwahati, around diabetic complications such as Retinopathy, Neuropathy, Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Cardio Vascular Disease, Nephropathy and Infections including tuberculosis.

These regional roundtables witnessed participation from leading endocrinologists, specialists, and policy makers from key government institutes and organizations. These discussions were actively supported by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Edgard Olaizola Story, Managing Director of Lilly India said, “Lilly is committed to making life better for people living diabetes and  we have been working to meet the needs of people with diabetes beyond medicines. We realized that increase in the cases of diabetes in the country has led to a growing burden on tertiary-level care hospitals, hence there was an urgent need for initiating a dialogue with stakeholders to strengthen the policies and practices around diabetes management in these facilities. We hope this initiative will help reduces complications related to diabetes.

Anupam Sibal, Member, CII National Healthcare Council and Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, welcomed the guests at the 3rd edition of the National NCD Summit and the release of the whitepaper. He said, “Non-communicable diseases in general and diabetes in particular would take the center stage for discussion at the summit. The aim of the summit is to strengthen and synergize the efforts of diabetes care at the tertiary level. Technology plays an important role in dealing with the burden of diabetes. Along with that, partnerships with different countries like Europe and United States would contribute to prevent diabetes. Innovation and thinking out of the box would also be pivotal in meeting the challenge of diabetes.”