Double Helical Award Season is here again!

Dear Readers,

As you are aware, Double Helical has been making a difference in the lives of people by raising awareness, rewarding excellence as well making voluntary contributions in the areas of education, health, human rights and social services. You will be happy to know that your favourite magazine is going to organize National Health Conclave and Awards on 23rd December 2019 at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi to honour medical fraternity and institutions working in the field of healthcare and social work.
The event will witness one-day conclave on Geriatric/Elderly care with the support of Association of Healthcare Providers, India (AHPI) and the Consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO). India has close to 115 million elderly people with multiple physical, social, psychological and economic problems. By 2050, India is going to have 20% of population as geriatric population. Geriatric/ elderly care has not been on formal agenda by healthcare providers. As per statistics, 3.7 million suffer from dementia, 1.6 million stroke cases, 1 in 3 suffering from arthritis, 1 in 3 has hypertension, 1 in 4 suffer from depression and 1 in 5 elderly persons has diabetes.
On one hand, there has been growing realization that people in the age-group of 70-80 and even beyond have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom and can contribute a lot to the country’s progress. On the other hand, their physical, social, psychological and spiritual healthcare needs remain unmet.
The conclave besides identifying these problems, will present a roadmap, case studies, showcasing the work done in this area, to address elderly care in holistic way. Finally, the conclave will recognize by way of awards to the deserving individuals and institutions.
In the current issue, we focus on Patient Safety and Cost of Healthcare. Healthcare delivery today has become very complex. Earlier it was considered to be safe and inexpensive, less invasive and under the comforting personal care of a family physician; while in present times it is viewed as potentially dangerous, expensive and driven primarily by technology & medical consultants.
One of the milestones to highlight that medical errors were not anecdotal but a regular feature even in the best of the hospitals was the famous article “ To Err is Human” published by Institute of Medicine (IoM) in the year 2000. The study estimated that as many as 98,000 people die in any given year from medical errors that occur in hospitals (USA alone) – more than the number of deaths from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS – three causes that receive far more public attention.
Both the community and the healthcare providers are inadequately prepared to deal with unforeseen outcomes including medical errors and rising cost. We need to look at the journey of increasing reporting of medical errors, medicine becoming hi-tech and expensive and how the medical community can cope with these challenges.
Another story highlights how diabetes is fast gaining the status of a potential epidemic in India with more than 62 million diabetic individuals currently diagnosed with the disease. In 2000, India (31.7 million) topped the world with the highest number of people with diabetes mellitus followed by China (20.8 million) and the United States (17.7 million) in second and third place respectively.
According to Federation of Diabetes International, the prevalence of diabetes is predicted to double globally from 171 million in 2000 to 366 million in 2030 with maximum increase in India. It is predicted that by 2030 diabetes mellitus may afflict up to 79.4 million individuals in India, while China (42.3 million) and the United States (30.3 million) will also see significant increases in those affected by the disease.
India currently faces an uncertain future in relation to the potential burden that diabetes may impose upon the country. Many influences affect the prevalence of disease throughout a country, and identification of those factors is necessary to facilitate change when facing health challenges. So, what are the factors currently affecting diabetes in India that are making this problem so extreme?
The challenges of estimating the global impact of diabetes are considerable and relate to two main issues: available data are not homogenous nor are they comprehensive.
There is more such interesting and thought-provoking stuff to savour in this issue. So, happy reading!
Thanks and regards

Amresh K Tiwary,
Editor-in-Chief