The plan to upgrade diagnostic facilities for diabetics in 23 hospitals and 238 health centres in the Capital is stuck in limbo. Though it was proposed two years ago, it could not materialise due to paucity of manpower. Estimates suggest that around 300 additional doctors, including Auxiliary Nurse Midwifery (ANM), will be required for conducting diagnostic tests for diabetes.
In 2011, a comprehensive plan to upgrade diagnostic facilities for diabetes was prepared. As part of the plan, it was decided that at least two laboratories will be set up each at the health centres and hospitals solely for diabetes testing, so that the patients need not have to run from pillar to post for a test.
Senior officials said that the decision was taken after it was found that most patients who visited Government hospitals were referred to private hospitals for conducting diabetes tests, as in most cases, owing to patient overload, doctors were unable to conduct blood tests for all diabetics.
At present, around 1,111 posts of doctors, including teaching doctors, and 2,300 posts of nurses, are lying vacant. Unless the posts are filled up, it is difficult to set up extra facilities at hospitals and health centres with such meagre manpower, rued officials.
Senior officials of the Health Department, however, added that they have intimated the matter to the Health Minister. Dr AK Walia has convened a meeting to resolve the deadlock over manpower crunch. But nothing has been finalised as yet. Experts are of the opinion that India leads the list of 10 countries with the highest prevalence of diabetes.
Currently, approximately 58 million adults in India suffer from diabetes and this is expected to rise to nearly 87 million by 2030. According to doctors, every fourth person in Delhi either suffers from diabetes or is susceptible to it with the disease more common among the urban populace than their rural counterparts.