Chronic disease incidence to treatment India 2019, by disease type

In 2019, the drop-off for dyslipidemia in India from patient pool to treated pool was the steepest with over 500 million patients in the patient pool while 63 million were treated. For hypertension on the other hand, the patient pool consisted of 250 million patients with a drop-off of almost 100 million patients who were diagnosed with the disease while only 63 million were treated for it.

Chronic diseases

With a burgeoning population of over 1.3 billion, the burden of disease in India is on the rise. India’s predominant burden of chronic disease hinges on two distinct clusters. The first is cardiovascular conditions which are attributed to overnutrition, primarily among the more affluent sections of society. The other, is diarrheal disease and lower respiratory tract conditions that allude to undernutrition and poverty among the impoverished sections of society.

Link to the public healthcare system

Chronic diseases have high drop offs from the patient to the treated pool. This is not regarded a sustainable solution for the insurance companies or other healthcare stakeholders who have invested in patient care. In order to make healthcare affordable to all and to prevent or minimize incidences of tertiary health care, which are very expensive for health insurances to bear these costs, high drop off rates need to see a significant reduction in the future. This is only possible with a comprehensive health care system that factors in preventive care. Consequently, the system calls for periodic checkups which can be maintained with the help of open digital ecosystems or ODEs. The need for some form of digital structure that brings the patient or the health insurance holder to the clinic for a routine check-ups is crucial.