Nationwide community dialogue will be key to control hypertension in India: parliamentarians

At a roundtable organised by PAIR – Patient Academy for Innovation and Research, a New Delhi-based patient organisation, doctors and global public health experts emphasised the need for our health systems to focus on the ‘lived reality’ of those who have chronic health conditions

On the sidelines of the Monsoon Session, patients living with hypertension submitted a twelve-point charter to senior parliamentarians. Considered a top risk factor for serious complications and death due to heart attack, stroke and kidney disease, hypertension although easy to treat, has one of the lowest treatment compliance rates. At a roundtable organised by PAIR – Patient Academy for Innovation and Research, a New Delhi-based patient organisation, doctors and global public health experts emphasised the need for our health systems to focus on the ‘lived reality’ of those who have chronic health conditions.

While the Ministry of Health’s recent announcement to screen and place 75 million people with hypertension or diabetes on Standard Care by 2025, is the need of the hour, experts have said that patients, caregivers and communities must play a key role to meet this critical health goal in the next two years.

Senior MPs present at the event held at the Constitution Club of India, – BJD’s Sujeet Kujmar, NCP’s Vandana Chauhan and Dr L Hanumanthaiah, strongly recommended people’s participation and ownership of health programs to make them a success. Pledging his full support, Kujmar said that “To improve uptake of services, treatment adherence and good follow up, patients and caregivers need to be included as equal partners in the healthcare delivery models. We should undertake a nation-wide community dialogue to better understand the challenges people face in receiving treatment.”

Interacting with patients present at the event, Chavan pointed out that women are more likely to have limited access to medicines. Citing patient stories that were narrated at the discussion, the senior MP said, “We must ensure women are being cared for and their individual contexts considered when we design treatment delivery mechanisms. For instance, how can we best care for a pregnant women with high blood pressure who is at great risk and ensure she gets treatment at her doorstep? We must listen to stories of women in their voices and help them overcome problems of access.”

Speaking at the event, Vandana Shah, Vice-President, Global Health Advocacy Incubator, said, “There is a global momentum to incorporate patient perspectives in the way health care delivery is designed. Last mile gaps in primary health care that have eluded us for decades can be fixed if we listen to the stories of people and factor in their voices in health governance.”

Presenting findings from a field survey conducted in Haryana and Rajasthan, Dr Ratna Devi, Director of PAIR highlighted, “People are not aware that uncontrolled hypertension is a life-threatening condition. There is no counselling by health care workers to help patients understand that medicines have to be taken daily. In some places medicine availability is also an issue. Based on these findings, we put together a patient charter with twelve recommendations which were presented to our MPs.”