JOIN USAyush therapy for borderline lifestyle ailments
Now, patients with borderline diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis will be prescribed Ayush system of medicines and taught yoga and meditation at 201 government’s non-communicable disease (NCD) centres across Karnataka.
The Department of Health and Family Welfare Services issued a memorandum on November 15 stating that to address NCDs, which have become a bane with a large population of teenagers and middle-aged people succumbing to lifestyle diseases, it was time to implement lifestyle changes to curb NCDs.
The idea is to boost NCD programmes wherein a common line of an integrated treatment protocol for diabetes mellitus, hypertension and osteoarthritis will be given initially. Ayush includes Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy.
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Explaining the reasons for integration, Dr Selvaraj, deputy director, NCD said that they want to prevent patients who are in the borderline of developing NCDs by altering their lifestyle. “We are in the process of identifying those who record their blood sugar value of about 100 to 120 mm/dl (milligram per decilitre) and show higher blood pressure,” he said.
“These patients will be offered both allopathy and Ayush system of medicines depending on their health,” he added.
The official said that besides medicines, Ayush system of medicines will also include yoga and meditation where the patient will be taught certain asanas to prevent further damage to their health.
An official from the NCD department said that integration is mainly to change the lifestyle of many who are becoming prone to diabetes and hypertension at an early age. Mainly pre-diabetics and those suffering from borderline ailments will be traced and treated to prevent them from having these NCDs.
There are about 201 NCD centres across the state, one in each district including 80 taluk health centres and 121 community health centres. The NCD programme started in 2010. Besides diabetes, hypertension and osteoarthritis, the centres also cater to patients with stroke, cardio-vascular diseases, cancer, with focus on oral, breast and cancer of the cervix.