Bhubaneswar: The number of cancer and obesity cases in Odisha exceeds national average, said Former Bhubaneswar-AIIMS director Ashok Kumar Mohapatra addressing a workshop on “Integration of Innovative Approaches to Reinforce One Health Issue – A Step Forward” hosted by Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology Bhubaneswar in association with state Planning and Convergence Department, Friday.
Stating that spiritual health is more important than physical and mental health, he said environment and condition of water at the National Capital Region has become very critical. In 1975, Delhi had a population of 5 million and now it has crossed 30 million. Similarly, Bhubaneswar has a population of 9 lakh but our vehicle number is more than 13 lakh which will affect the environment
Expressing concern over lack of adequate doctors in the country, he said we have more engineers in the country. Annually, the country produces 1.5 million engineers and 50,000 doctors. Moreover, creating a medical college is more expensive than launching an engineering college, he asserted.
Mohapatra said life expectancy of men in 2017 was 67 and women 69. “The longer a person lives, the greater his/her chance of suffering from multiple diseases. Nowadays, many elderly people suffer from diabetes and blood pressure,” he said.
India has dropped down seven spots to 140 in the World Happiness Index in 2019 as compared to 133 in its 2018 ranking. And it is better than Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Libya, he said. Yoga is the basis for improving lifestyle and to attain spiritual health which helps create a balance between physical, psychological and social life, Mohapatra added..
State Planning and Convergence department Joint Secretary RP Sahoo said the status of India under global Physical Quality of Life Index (PQLI) is low. The value of this index is taken from the average of three statistics – basic literacy rate, infant mortality, and life expectancy.
Sahu also said the recent animal deaths in the Nandankanan Zooogical Park showcased an absolute lack of health infrastructure for the zoo animals.
Former director of Disease Laboratory, Bhopal, HK Pradhan said there is need for good labs in the country for research in medicine and treatment for diseases. He said Human beings suffer from around 800 variety of diseases and the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 61 per cent of all human aliments are zoonotic (diseases or infections caused by transmission between humans and animals).