One of the major challenge of a healthcare delivery system in a place as diverse and heterogeneous as India is to understand the problem in our vicinity, the structure of our population, the challenges of the society and available resources in various sectors - both State and private. In Bangalore, as in many other cosmopolitan cities in developing countries, we are moving from a high mortality to
a high morbidity population (In the last 30 years, the prevalence of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia has doubled while that of diabetes has trebled). This means that the death rates are decreasing, life expectancy is on the rise, but importantly, a significant proportion of the population suffers from chronic illness both physical and mental. (the largest population-based study from India to report on prevalence of depression shows that among urban south Indians, the prevalence of depression was 15.1%). Depression was reported in 9.1% of individuals in Bangalore city in South India in the WHO study done in 15 primary care centres
This includes Diabetes and Cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases and its' associated problems, disability related to pain and illness in the elderly population and mental illness. Modernisation and urbanisation as we see around us in Bangalore has led to a better quality of life and a sense of pride that our city is a known destination at the world stage. Rapid growth of urban population also poses some serious challenges. Urban population growth has outpaced the development of basic minimum services; housing, water supply, sewerage and solid waste disposal are far from adequate; increasing waste generation at home, offices and industries, coupled with poor waste disposal facilities result in rapid environmental deterioration. Increasing automobiles add to air pollution. All these have adverse effect on ecology and health. Unfortunately, the downside is the rise in stress levels that comes with this. The need to find a better job, better pay, better education for your children combined with finding the balance between work and social life, long hours in traffic chaos, increased pressure at work takes its' toll on your physical and mental health. Apart from this, population growth coupled with urbanization causes over-crowding, environmental pollutions, health problems and civil amenities, transportation, etc stretched to almost disrupting edge. All this adversely affect our health in one way or the other. How do we cope with this challenge? A small proportion of us are blessed with better suited personality styles (the calm and the content), some with a better awareness of their health and indulge in physical fitness, yoga and meditation; some even found solace and tranquillity within the family structure. What about the rest of us. We go on and on until the engine of our body starts to give way either in the form of physical health problems or mental health issues. During this journey, we embark on a road of unhealthy lifestyle choices to say the least. What can we do? The answer is not simple. But we can set ourselves on the right path. At URBAN DIAGNOSTICS, our mission is one of diagnosing health than treating the disease. This means a preventive and proactive model of approach to your health. We aim to change the way large segment of medicine is practiced in our country not just in words but with our action - even if this means one patient at a time.
