The Central Government is planning to include non-communicable diseases like stroke, cardiovascular diseases and diabetes under the purview of the Tenth Five-Year Plan, according to the union health and family welfare minister, Dr. R Anbumani Ramadoss.

Though the government had earlier considered including these diseases in the tenth plan, it had not materialized. The new government is seriously working to include it in the framework of the plan during the mid-term review. Thrust of the programme would be prevention than cure. For this, efforts would be done to create mass awareness on non-communicable diseases and changes in lifestyle. However, the government will give equal importance to create adequate healthcare infrastructure for treating these diseases, said the minister while attending the inaugural function of the second postgraduate course in Diabetology organized by Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) and American Diabetes Association (ADA).

He noted that an estimated 37-40 million persons in the country would be affected with diabetes by 2010 and over 60 million by 2025. Gestational diabetes also has increased alarmingly mainly due to changes in lifestyle and poor diet. More than that, the Indians have been proved to have a genetic pre-disposition for diabetes.

He said efforts would be taken to encourage research into stem cell and the pancreas as part of the strategy to fight diabetes. The National Board of Examination has started a post-doctoral research fellowship in diabetes and the Government would offer assistance to non-governmental organizations which work in the field of prevention of lifestyle diseases.

Alan Cherrington, ADA president, inaugurated the MDRF-Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation PACE Diabetes project, to screen and study 26000 persons related to diabetes in Chennai city. Catherine J. Tibbetts, president, Health Care and Education, ADA, released a book on the conference. Rakesh Mittal, deputy director, Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), Richard Haynes, United States Consul-General in South India, V.L. Dutt, chairman, Chennai Willingdon Corporate Foundation, V. Mohan, MDRF president etc. spoke on the occasion.