Health Desk: At least 30 lakh people should be brought under primary health care services of hypertension and diabetes treatment by 2025 in a bid to prevent the Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs), say experts.
They came up with the recommendation while speaking at a workshop titled `Scale up CVD prevention and management in Bangladesh’ held at a city hotel on Sunday.
The workshop was jointly organized by WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, Non-Communicable Disease Control Program of Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) and National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh.
Prof Khandkar Abdul Awal Rizvi, the secretary general of the National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh chaired the event while Saidur Rahman, additional secretary of the ministry of health and family welfare was present as chief guest.
Emphasizing on enrolling the diabetes and high blood pressure patients quickly in primary health care facilities, the experts also said use of national protocol in the management of diabetes and high blood pressure is also required.
At the workshop, the experts said the NCD has turned into serious problem for Bangladesh as 70 percent of the death in the country is caused by the NCDs.
The primary focus in preventing these diseases lies in strengthening treatment programs in primary health care facilities, with particular attention given to heart disease and diabetes, they said.
The experts also recommended that all health workers should be given advanced training in non communicable disease control and curriculum should be updated to include modern approaches.
The experts emphasized on utilization of community clinics and union sub-centres in coordination with all departments affiliated with the health ministry to increase the detection of hypertension and diabetes patients.
They proposed displaying the data collected from digital platform in DHIS2, a health information system, to facilitate monitoring and future action planning by policymakers.
The NCD department of DGHS and National Heart Foundation of Bangladesh has integrated approximately 180,000 patients with high blood pressure and diabetes into primary health care services in 182 upazilas in Bangladesh.
Prof Dr. AHM Enayet Hossain, Vice-Chancellor of Sylhet Medical University, Prof Dr. Rasheda Sultana, Prof Dr. Ahmedul Kabir, Prof Dr. Robed Amin, Prof Dr. Shahadat Hossain, representative from the World Health Organization Dr. Cherian Varghese and Dr. Sadhana Bhagwat, as well as representatives from relevant public and private institutions were present at the workshop.
