New Delhi : The Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Prof. (Dr.) Atul Goel has issued an advisory to all the Medical Association across the country which states that being health professionals, “we should follow the healthy lifestyle and it may be advised that alcohol in any form may be avoided in Medical Conference/ Workshop/ Seminar/ CME to set an example of a good habit which can be emulated by others.”
The DGHS which comes under the Union Health Ministry has advised the doctors to say ‘no’ to alcohol at medical conference/ workshop/ seminar/CME, apparently sending a message to the medical fraternity that it should practice what it preaches to their patients as far as consumption of liquor is concerned which is cause for rising NCDs related to heart and kidney among others in the country. The DGHS in other words has asked the doctors to set an example of good habits that patients and other fellow citizens can follow.
It is to be noted that the new set of guidelines issued by the National Medical Commission (NMC) meant for medical students has issued similar advisory. The new set of guidelines said that the medical students should avoid alcohol, tobacco and other substances of abuse and also refrain from indiscriminately posting patients-related information on social media. The guidelines prepared by NMC’s Ethics and Medical Registration Board (EMRB) on ‘professional responsibilities of medical students’ state that the learners are expected to seek treatment and counselling in case of substance abuse. The DGHS pointed out that such advice of abstaining from alcohol was given by the Union Health Ministry while referring to the fact that Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are estimated to account for 63% of all deaths in India. Among these, cardiovascular diseases lead with 27% overall mortality cause followed by chronic respiratory diseases (11%), cancers (9%). diabetes (3%) and others (13%) as per the WHO-NCD India profile – 2018.
The DGHS referring to the NCD data has pointed out that the rise of NCDs are driven primarily by four major risk factors including tobacco use, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets.“Alcohol use is linked to many diseases and injury conditions including liver cirrhosis, several cancers (liver laryngeal, esophageal and oropharyngeal cancers), injuries and haemorrhagic strokes. 5.1% of the global burden of disease and injury was attributable to alcohol as measured in disability adjusted life years (DALYs),” DGHS said in the letter.