KEYPOINTS:
- In this programme, DawaaDost will retail Metformin 1000 mg tablets from the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the country.
- One in six people with diabetes in the world is from India. The numbers place the country among the top 10 countries for people with diabetes, coming in at number two with an estimated 77 million diabetics.
- The prevalence of diabetes in India has remained at 11.8% in the last four years, according to the National Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Survey report released by the health and family welfare ministry (till 2019).
DawaaDost announces one day’s diabetes course of ‘Metformin 1000 mg’ at only rupee one per day.
Commemorating World Diabetes Day on November 14, DawaaDost has announced a basic course of Metformin 1000 mg tablet at only rupee one per day (Rs 30 per month), which is expected to reduce the expenses of patients on their diabetic care to one-fourth. Through this programme, DawaaDost will retail Metformin 1000 mg tablets from top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the country.
The patients or customers across the country will have to scan their prescription and upload to Dawaadost.com for availing their medicine, which will be shipped to their doorsteps. They can also buy the medicines at DawaaDost’s retail shops. Metformin is the first line of treatment for type-2 diabetes.
Dr Rushin Mehta, a leading diabetologist of The Clinic in Mumbai said, “India is a home to 80-90 million diabetics, the second highest in the world. One in six people in the world with diabetes is from India. Diabetes often leads to complications with the eyes, kidneys, or heart. It is a leading cause of death in the country, often due to complications developed during the advanced stages. Studies have shown, a lack of adherence towards taking medicines as a major cause of diabetes related complications, hospitalisation and deaths.”
Amit Choudhary, Founder, Chief Executive Officer of DawaaDost said, “Quite often, this lack of adherence is due to the lack of affordability. By providing cost-effective diabetes care, the progress of diabetes and related complications could be controlled right at the onset of the disease. DawaaDost’s major objective is to make medicines for critical ailments highly affordable to the common man, so that he takes them regularly. These medicines are products of top 10 pharma companies in the country.”
DawaaDost wants to solve three challenges of availability, affordability, and awareness of high-quality medicines. The company believes that every medicine consumer in India can save 50- 80% on their medicine bills by providing them high quality branded generic medicines. It believes it is possible, to save Rs 50,000 every year per family on medicines and reduce the nation’s medicine bills by Rs 1000 crores in 5 years.
What is the rank of India in diabetes?
One in six people with diabetes in the world is from India. The numbers place the country among the top 10 countries for people with diabetes, coming in at number two with an estimated 77 million diabetics. China leads the list with over 116 million diabetics.
Prevalence of Diabetes in India:
The prevalence of diabetes in India has remained at 11.8% in the last four years, according to the National Diabetes and Diabetic Retinopathy Survey report released by the health and family welfare ministry.
The survey conducted during 2015-2019 by Rajendra Prasad Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi also showed that the prevalence of known diabetes cases was 8.0% and new diabetes cases was 3.8%.
“Males showed a similar prevalence of diabetes (12%) as females (11.7%). Known diabetics comprised 67.3% participants, while 32.7% were new diabetics. Highest prevalence of diabetes was observed in 70-79 years age group at 13.2%. Nearly 40% of known diabetes were diagnosed 1-4 years back while 5.3% of known diabetes cases reported diagnosis within past one-year,” the report said.
Under the survey, prevalence of diabetes among 63,000 enumerated population aged up to 50 years in 21 districts, 56,771 or 90.1% were assessed for diabetes.
When diabetic retinopathy among diabetics was assessed during the survey, the prevalence of any form of diabetic retinopathy in diabetic population aged up to 50 years was found to be 16.9%.
“Mild retinopathy was the most common with prevalence of 11.8%. We observed 7% participants had any form of diabetic maculopathy. The prevalence of sight threatening diabetic retinopathy was 3.6%. The prevalence of DR was similar among males (17.0%) and females (16.7%), the report said.
“The prevalence of DR (diabetic retinopathy) in the 60-69 years age group was 18.6%, 70-79 years was 18.3% and >80 years was 18.4% while a lower prevalence of 14.3% was observed in the 50-59 years age group,” the report said.
Prevalence of blindness among diabetics was 2.1% and visual impairment was 13.7%. Blindness and visual impairment were comparable in diabetics and non-diabetics.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated the global prevalence of diabetes among adults over 18 years of age as 8.5% in 2014. There are estimated 72.96 million cases of diabetes in adult population of India. The prevalence in urban areas ranges between 10.9% and 14.2% and prevalence in rural India was 3.0-7.8% among population aged 20 years and above with a much higher prevalence among individuals aged over 50 years (INDIAB Study).
About DawaaDost:
Dawaa Dost specializes in the pharmacy retail chain of generic medicines in India. The company focuses on the availability of affordable generic medicines. Dawaa Dost was founded by Amit Choudhary and Yash Harlalka and is based in India
“दवाDost is India’s #1 Affordable Pharmacy. We aspire to make medicines available for one and all in India beyond the restrictions of expensive unaffordable branded medicines. Our vision is to help every consumer of medicine save upto 50-80% on their expensive medicine bills by providing them high quality branded generic medicines.”