‘Census an opportunity to collect data on five major diseases’

Cardiologists and diabetologists say statistics of diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hepatitis and heart diseases can help in policymaking

Pakistan’s leading cardiologists and diabetologists demanded on Friday that the government should collect the data of five major diseases - diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hepatitis and cardiac ailments - as part of the upcoming sixth national population census so that the statistics could be used in policymaking.

 “The upcoming census is the best opportunity for our policymakers to collect the data of five major disease including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hepatitis and cardiac ailments,” renowned diabetologists and Health Advisory Research Board (HealthRAB) vice chairman Dr Abdul Basit said at a pres conference. He was accompanied by Pakistan Cardiac Society (PCS) president-elect Prof Naeem Aslam.

On the occasion, the HealthRAB and the PCS announced the names of three young cardiologists, who had won the 1st Cardiology Research Award and cash prizes during the 46th PCS annual conference last month, for their research papers in the field of cardiology.

The three cardiologists are Dr Shazia Manji from the Tabba Heart Institute who stood first, Dr Shazia Rasheed from the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases who secured the second slot and Dr Shahzaib Ahmed, also from the NICVD, who grabbed the third place.

The Dr Basit and Prof Aslam signed a memorandum of understanding for holding the 2nd Cardiology Research Award at the 47th Annual Conference of the PCS between March 24 and 26 in Hyderabad.

Dr Basit said two weeks ago, he had met with the federal health secretary in Islamabad and demanded that queries about the five major diseases should be included in the census.

“At the moment we have no concrete data, no statistics about any disease in Pakistan so we can’t device a strategy to prevent and tackle diabetes, hypertension, hepatitis, cardiac ailments and obesity in the country,” Dr Basit added.

“Nobody actually knows how many diabetes, hypertension and heart diseases patients there are in the country.”

Dr Basit said every family knew if there was a diabetic or a hypertension or hepatitis patient in their house and the data could be accurately collected.

He noted that every third or fourth patient visiting clinics or hospitals were diabetic and this meant that around 25 to 33 percent population of the county suffered from the disease. That also means that these patients are prone to having heart disease and other conditions,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof Aslam thanked the HealthRAB for promoting the culture of research in Pakistan and said the awards would be turned into an annual feature so that young doctors were encouraged to engage in research.

He deplored that in Pakistan, doctors did not maintain records of their patients as that could help in preventing and lowering the burden of many diseases.

The chairman of the 47th Annual Conference of the PCS, Prof Feroz Memon, said heart ailments were the leading cause of deaths in Pakistan but unfortunately there was no concrete data about the number of patients suffering from them.

He hoped that the Cardiology Research Award initiated by the HealthRAB and the PCS would promote awareness about cardiac ailments and lower the rate of deaths caused by heart diseases.