Collecting data on health will help curate effective programmes: Dr K Sudhakar

BENGALURU:  Stressing on the need to collect and digitise data from the healthcare sector, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Saturday said this will help to curate appropriate programmes for various diseases and illnesses.

He was speaking at conferences organised by Private Hospitals and Nursing Home Association (PHANA), Common Health Association for Health and Disability (COMHAD) and the Research Study for Study of Diabetes in India-Karnataka Chapter (RSSDI).

Sudhakar urged PHANA to work towards ensuring accessible and affordable healthcare. The minister also addressed the lack of transparency in the private medical sector and said the association must ensure to digitise all data and share it with the government. “Only if the government has proper data can they come forward with effective healthcare programmes, both at the state and the national level,” he said.

He also suggested working towards setting up more mid-sized hospitals (around 100 beds) and promised to work towards simplifying renewal processes and even extend the renewal time to three years. Talking about mental health illnesses, neurological disorders and prevalence of diabetes in India, Sudhakar said neurological disorders contribute to 70 per cent of childhood disabilities.

He also pointed out that Karnataka has progressed immensely in the past 7-8 years, but still lags behind maternal mortality rate or infant mortality when compared to the neighbouring states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu.A doctor at the RSSDI conference stated that unlike Covid, diabetes is a slow poison and if it is not controlled timely, it will cause more deaths than Covid did.

The minister suggested taking a prevention-oriented approach towards building better healthcare. In case of non communicable diseases, the medical department has increased screenings substantially especially India is called the ‘diabetes capital of the world’.