Indians with heart disease, hypertension or diabetes are likely to be classified as people with comorbidities and included in the list of those who will receive a vaccine against coronavirus disease (Covid-19) as a priority, officials involved in the plan said. vaccination. on Saturday.
The officials added that there will also be a door-to-door survey across the country and that existing government databases will be used to identify those people. Household surveys will also be for those over 50. People who fall into these two categories have been identified by the government as those from the general public who will have access to a vaccine first, in addition to health workers and front-line service personnel as municipal employees.
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“The voter list already provides us with the age profile of the people in a locality. We have to conduct a door-to-door survey to reconfirm the names and also know the comorbidities. Anganwadi workers and accredited social health activists (Asha) would be selected for this purpose, ”said one of these officials, who asked not to be named.
The three categories of people together will account for roughly 300 million of India’s population of 1.3 billion, the government estimates. The identified comorbidities include a number of illnesses that increase the likelihood that a patient will have a serious or even fatal outcome if they contract the coronavirus disease.
“The list is being compiled by a panel headed by Dr. Randeep Guleria, director of the Indian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), to finalize which ailments would be included in the list of comorbidities,” the person quoted above said.
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According to the National Family Health Survey-4, at least 5.8% of women and 8% of men in India are predicted to have high blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of becoming diabetic . The survey also found that the prevalence of hypertension is around 13.6% among the male population and 8.8% among the female population.
In terms of heart disease, a 2018 study published in The Lancet found that cardiovascular disease caused more than 2.1 million deaths in India in 2015 across all ages, reflecting the widespread prevalence of heart disease.
According to the officials cited above, the process of identifying people with comorbidities through surveys will be in addition to multiple government databases where such information is also recorded. Currently these include records under Ayushman Bharat policy, those collected during Covid-19 testing and household surveys, and self-reported information from the Aarogya Setu mobile app.
People who have undergone any Covid-19 test must declare their Aadhaar numbers, as well as details of whether they have any comorbid conditions; this data will also be taken into account, added the person cited above.