City all set to be first in country to have registry of 6 NCDs

Chandigarh: Chandigarh will be the first city in the country to have a registry of six different types of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart, brain stroke and diabetes. The registry is expected to be completed within three months. It is initiated by the PGI’s department of community medicine and School for Public Health.
“We have been recording each and every brain and heart attack in the city.It is expected that we will release the report in another three months. There is no such registry in south-east Asia like this, which covers 6 NCDs -- young diabetes, heart attack, brain stroke, chronic kidney diseases, cancer and aplastic anemia,” said Prof J S Thakur, who has started the registry. The registry is population-based, where the real time data is collected from city-based hospitals and laboratories. “We started this in 2018, where around seven departments of PGI are involved. The country must have such an integrated registry instead of separate ones,” said Prof Thakur.
As data of disease surveillance, such registries help to understand patterns of disease in a particular area and accordingly preventive steps can be taken. “A scientific approach is necessary to strategise management of diseases. Without data, there can be no proper plan to prevent them ,” said Prof Thakur.
Out of total deaths globally, NCDs account for 72%. In India, as per the Global Burden of Disease Estimates 2016, NCDs contributed to 62% of the deaths and 55% of the disability-adjusted life years, posing a huge burden. In low and middle-income countries, NCD burden estimates are either not available or that are available are insufficient. The team of researchers have studied that an integrated registry of NCDs is cost effective as compared to separate ones. These registries will ultimately help in developing integrated evidence-based public health interventions for prevention and control.