In an effort to create awareness on genetic decoding for healthcare, the Chennai-based biotechnology company, Xcode Life Sciences Pvt. Ltd, has started initiating healthcare based programmes by joining hands with Indian Medical Association (IMA), Tamil Nadu branch.

As a first step, a continuing medical education (CME) programme on ‘Lifelong Happiness through Personalised Genetics’ was conducted jointly by the company and IMA in Chennai.

Dr Pankaj Mankad, director, Xcode Life Sciences, while speaking at the programme, provided a comprehensive view on the present health situations prevailing in India and offered some key insights into the impact of chronic diseases in the country. Discussing the concept of genetic decoding and its role in predicting risk of chronic disease, he emphasized that genetic decoding would help for maintaining good health. The doctor said it is a solution to India’s health worries in future.

According to the findings from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors (GBD) 2010, the major reason of death in India was ischemic heart disease followed by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, stroke, respiratory infections and tuberculosis, he said.  A study carried out in collaboration with the Registrar General of India (RGI) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in 2010, stated that Cardio Vascular Diseases (CVDs) accounted for nearly 25 per cent of deaths in the age group of 25-69 in India.

In the case of diabetes, India's diabetes burden is expected to cross the 100 million mark by 2030 as against 87 million earlier estimated. The country is also the largest contributor to regional mortality with 983, 000 deaths caused due to diabetes in 2011.

Dignitaries from the medical professions like Dr A Muruganathan, president - Association of Physicians of India, Dr L P Thangavelu, State President - Indian Medical Association (IMA) TN Branch, Dr M Balasubramanian - IMA president Elect and Dr C Anbarasu, chairman - IMA Nursing Home Board, participated in the CME programme.

While addressing the audience, Dr M Balasubramanian, IMA president elect, said the IMA Tamil Nadu is pleased to partner with Xcode and added that genetic decoding could bring about a paradigm shift in the healthcare domain. It is learnt that predictive and pre-symptomatic genetic tests in line with Xcode’s P4 health programme, can be used to detect genetic variations associated with disorders that appear after birth, often later in life.