Voicing concern over the prevalence of lifestyle diseases like diabetes in lower income groups, Delhi health minister Kiran Walia on Friday said the government has decided to set up special clinics in hospitals for this purpose.
She said a trend has been observed lately that points to the prevalence of lifestyle diseases even in slum dwellers.
“The diseases which were until recently considered limited to the upper middle class are now even being found in slum dwellers,” she said at a function to launch a distance learning course for “family life health”. She said given the reach of mass media, the habits and the likes of the middle class, like eating fast food, appear to have penetrated to some lower income groups as well.
“They also watch television, they also want to eat burgers which are available cheap on roads,” she said.
“The government has therefore decided to establish diabetes clinics in all hospitals so that people can get themselves checked and treated,” she said.
Ms Walia also said that the government has undertaken the massive exercise of revising the definition of poverty to include more sections of people under the bracket. “We are revising the definition of poverty as many poor people are outside the current bracket of estimates. A new survey is being conducted in which over 25 lakh people have been covered,” she said.
—PTI