Minister for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh has called for making preventive healthcare and prevention of diabetes a national priority. He stressed that the growing burden of diabetes in rural India requires a community-led, technology-enabled and data-driven response. The Minister virtually inaugurated the RSSDI ‘Diabetes Rural Outreach Digital Portal’ and launched VISHWAS, the Diabetes Awareness Video Library.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr Singh said, with more than 70 per cent of India’s population below the age of 40, protecting the health and productive potential of the country’s young population is essential to the vision of India@2047. The Minister also stressed the importance of making digital health solutions responsive to India’s linguistic diversity. The Minister expressed hope that RSSDI would continue to work with government agencies, academic institutions, technology partners and local healthcare workers so that the Rural Outreach Programme evolves into a sustainable and scalable national model for prevention and management of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. The Minister called for greater integration among government agencies, academic institutions, technology partners, private organisations and local healthcare workers to create more effective and sustainable models for prevention and management of diabetes and other non-communicable diseases. He said that collaboration across sectors can help supplement each other’s efforts and deliver better outcomes in community healthcare.
Referring to the changing landscape of healthcare and scientific research, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that “the age of silos is over” and that the country is moving towards an era of interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaboration. He said engineering, technology and medical sciences are increasingly converging, opening new possibilities for healthcare delivery, digital health and community-based interventions.
The RSSDI Rural Outreach Programme is a community initiative focused on improving diabetes awareness, early diagnosis, treatment, follow-up and prevention in rural India through village adoption by RSSDI members. The newly launched digital portal provides a standardised platform for beneficiary registration, treatment documentation, longitudinal follow-up, programme monitoring and generation of anonymised real-world data for public health planning and research.
