Strengthening NCD care in Tumkur: an action research project

Non-communicable diseases (NCD) have reached epidemic proportions in India. The prevalence of hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus (DM) are still increasing and so is the premature mortality due to these diseases.

Unfortunately, our health systems and especially the government health services are not equipped to manage this epidemic. Most of the primary health centres do not have adequate supply of medicines against HT or DM, diagnostic and counselling services are not available in most PHCs and even CHCs. Patients end up seeking care in the private sector and experience high out-of-pocket expenses for the treatment.

It is in this context that IPH has launched action research projects in select PHCs in Tumkur district to document how care for patients with DM and HT can be strengthened using existing and available resources.

The main objectives of our project are to:

Understand the situation vis-à-vis NCD care in the PHCs in Tumkur
Strengthen the care for NCD patients in Tumkur by
- Creating awareness among the community about NCD
- Ensuring availability of PHC staff for consultation and counselling
- Ensuring availability of medicines for DM and HT round the year
- Ensuring availability of diagnostic services for DM at the PHC itself
- Ensuring continuity of care by providing the patients with a patient retained record
Document the implementation of these inputs, the processes as well as the outputs
Document the expected as well as unexpected effects of this intervention
Fine-tune the intervention to ensure that the expected effects are assured

NCD

The research project is being implemented in four PHCs in Tumkur district. In all these PHCs, a research team consisting of the PHC staff and the IPH research staff have been formed. This team then develops strategies on how to meet the research objectives. Following this, the team operationalises these strategies. While the PHC staff (internal research team) is responsible for implementing the research, the IPH staff (external research team) will document the inputs, processes and the outputs. Based on the outputs, the intervention will be altered so that the desired outputs are achieved.

The action research cycle is shown below:

NCD methaology