Lifestyle diseases strike slums of Ahmedabad

It might come as a shocker. A project of the health department funded by the Centre has found that lifestyle diseases are not the sole preserve of the well-to-do. Even slum dwellers are falling prey to such diseases. A screening carried out by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) found that around 5% of slum dwellers in the city suffer from diabetes and hypertension.

Around 11,822 people were screened between September 5 and October 7. Of this, 2013 were found to be suffering from hypertension, 1828 from diabetes, and 623 from both.
It also found that 15% of people in the 40 plus age group have developed diabetes, while 17% have fallen prey to hypertension. AMC had formed 10 teams of one physician and four paramedical staff each to undertake this screening. These teams, equipped with portable glucometer and other medical tools, visited various slum pockets of the city, everyday after 4 pm.

"Ahmedabad is one of the five cities along with Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru and Delhi, where this project was implemented," said Dr SP Kulkarni, medical officer of health, AMC.  He said many a times slum dwellers lose consciousness when their blood or sugar level goes up or down abruptly, but they fail to understand its cause.
 
He said that the slum dwellers are unaware of such lifestyle diseases, and get alerted only when they are hospitalised for any major surgery. "The poor often fall victim to diabetes because of the stress levels that they endure," said Kulkarni. According to him, such an initiative to screen slum dwellers will help the government in taking policy decisions and launching health schemes."

Dispelling the myth that only lavish living invites lifestyle diseases and poor usually don't get it because of the amount of physical work that they undertake, Dr Prashant Bhimani, consulting psychologist, said, "The slum dwellers are prone to lifestyle diseases because of bad eating habits, social conflicts, and relationship problems among others."

He also said that slum dwellers indulge themselves in showing-off, and for this they get into the habit of borrowing money. In turn, they find themselves in the vicious circle of debt and hence, hypertension. "Moreover, inflation and an aspiration to provide better living to their children can also be cited as other reasons for lifestyle diseases affecting the slum dwellers," he says.

According to Dr Bhimani, right education and consultation will help the slum dwellers to overcome these issues. "It would be better if non-governmental organisations (NGO) work with such people," he says.