India may very well see an outbreak of cardiovascular diseases in endemic proportion in the near future, warns a survey while calling for increased allocation for public health to combat the grave threat.
The country's public expenditure is only 20.7 per cent of the total expenditure on health as compared to Bangladesh's 25.2 per cent, Pakistan's 34.9 per cent and China's 33.7 per cent, says the study.The joint study conducted by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) and PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on 'Working towards Wellness: An Indian Perspective' shows that the mortality rate of cardiovascular patients in India is currently estimated at 30 per cent within the age group of 35-64.
Compared to this, death rate due to cardiovascular diseases in the US is 12 per cent, 22 per cent in China, 25 per cent in Russia.
The reason why public expenditure on health in countries like Pakistan and Bangladesh is higher than that in India is because of two specific reasons. The economies of Pakistan and Bangladesh are emerging for development and that is why their governments have been making higher health allocations for their people to partake in global competition, the study says.
Secondly, on the population front, Pakistan and Bangladesh are at competitive edge because of their size which is not the case with India as its paid, after 2000 onwards, less attention towards health as its priorities were different, it says.
India today bears the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. Besides tuberculosis, malaria, pneumonia, HIV/AIDS, hitherto neglected diseases like diabetes are likely to take endemic proportions.
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In India diabetic nephropathy is expected to develop in 6.6 million of the 30 million patients suffering from diabetes.
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