The India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) programme began in Rayagada district after formal inauguration by district Collector Saroj Mishra, besides Health Department officials.
The all India programme is implemented in collaboration with WHO, Government of India and ICMR to resolve issues to save lives. The study demonstrates that a scalable public health hypertension control programme can yield substantial BP control improvements, especially in primary care settings. It was implemented in 19 States and 101 districts and 2.1 million hypertension patients have registered.
Odisha is the 20th State in India to start the programme in Rayagada district to be followed by Kalahandi and Balangir districts in a couple of months.
The IHCI programme started on Thursday in urban health centre – 1 Rayagada by registering the 1st hypertension patient. It is managed under the supervision of DrManojPatruni, MD - Community Medicine, cardiovascular health officer for Odisha–WHO-India .