The union health ministry has decided to rename its national programme and portal aimed at tackling the rising challenge of non-communicable diseases, News18 has learnt.
Earlier the programme on non-communicable diseases included diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, and stroke, and hence it was known as the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS).
NPCDCS was being implemented under the National Health Mission (NHM) across the country.
However, in the last few years – according to a letter sent by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to the states and union territories on May 3 – “many new diseases or disease groups or new initiatives have been added to the programme such as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, STEMI among others”.
“…there is a need that scheme in its present form may subsume all types of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) under a new name. To this effect, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to rename ‘NPCDCS’ as the National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD),” said the letter, written by Vishal Chauhan, joint secretary at the Ministry of Health, accessed by News18.
The letter has been sent to principal secretaries and health secretaries of all states and union territories.
Renaming screening portal
Also, the letter said that the government has now decided to rename the portal which enables population enumeration, risk assessment, and screening for five common NCDs, including hypertension, diabetes, and oral, breast and cervical cancer of the population aged above 30 years.
While earlier, the application or software called Comprehensive Primary Healthcare Non-Communicable Disease (CPHC NCD IT) was rolled out under the programme for screening and management, now it will also be renamed National NCD Portal.
“Since, the coverage of the CPHC NCD IT system is increasing rapidly, covering more population. Accordingly, CPHC NPD portal will now be known as the National NCD Portal,” the letter said.
The portal has been in use by health officials and members and continues to remain the same.
“Accordingly, keeping in view of the above decisions of the Ministry, the State Government(s) / UT(s) are advised to take further necessary action to use the above names for the scheme and portal in all their future references and correspondences with Government of India,” the communication said.
Status of NCDs and why programme was launched
According to the India State-Level Disease Burden Initiative in 2017 by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), it is estimated that the proportion of deaths due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in India has increased from 37.9% in 1990 to 61.8% in 2016. The four major NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), and diabetes which share four behavioural risk factors –unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, and use of tobacco and alcohol.
The NPCDCS programme – now renamed National Programme for Prevention & Control of Non-Communicable Diseases (NP-NCD) – was launched in 2010 as part of the National Health Mission (NHM), based on the proposals received from the States/UTs and subject to the resource envelope.
The programme focuses on strengthening infrastructure, human resource development, health promotion and awareness generation for prevention, early diagnosis, management and referral to an appropriate level of healthcare facility for treatment of the NCDs.
Under the programme, 677 NCD clinics at the district level, 187 district cardiac care units, 266 district daycare centres and 5392 NCD clinics at the community health centre level have been set up to ensure the treatment of common NCDs, as per the data shared by the health ministry in 2022.
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