JOIN USDiabetes care tougher for poor in Bengaluru, finds survey
For poor people with diabetes, fighting the lifestyle disease can be a big strain on their meagre finances. They cannot afford the out-of-pocket expenditure the disease requires. For them, it’s a choice between medication and their daily bread. More often than not, they choose the latter.
As a result, they skip doses of medication and eventually drop out of treatment. Poor diabetics in villages also worry about availability of drugs and travel expenses.
Consider the case of 45-year-old Rathnamma (name changed), a resident of KG Halli. Diagnosed with having diabetes years ago, she has been taking medicines on and off. She depends on her daily savings to buy medicines. “I think twice before buying Rs 10 worth of tablets. I can use those Rs 10 to buy coconut and make chutney,” she said.
Many things come in the way of treatment for poor diabetics. From repaying loans to providing the daily essentials, they have several other “more important” things to pay for from their meagre income, found a study conducted by the Institute of Public Health in KG Halli, a poor neighbourhood of Bengaluru.
Health insurance
Though health insurance policies and government schemes cover several in-patient procedures, they offer little to patients of non-communicable diseases. The survey found that more than 75% of the 9,000 people covered live below Rs 110 a day, said Dr Upendra Bhojani, faculty member, Institute of Public Health. The urban poor spend Rs 300-400 a month (if diabetes is in the initial stage) and Rs 5,000 if they have associated complications.
Poor diabetics often cannot get medicines available at government hospitals at lower prices or free of charge. “Those from rural areas have to travel a distance to get medicines from district hospitals,” said Dr Riyaz Basha, associate professor, department of community medicine, Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute. “That means loss of daily wage. Travel time is another deterring factor.”
Diabetes expenditure
Diabetics need to spend Rs 100 for tablets each time they undergo a blood sugar test (once in 15 days) besides Rs 50 on travel. Injections will cost Rs 300 to Rs 1,600 a month. A needle costs Rs six.
Dr Basha said the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke could help poor diabetics if there was a good co-ordination mechanism.