There are 60 million arthritis patients in the country, but the disease is yet to be considered a major non-communicable disease (NCD) when health policies are initiated by the authorities, experts have said.
This was highlighted during a discussion at the Global Ayurveda Festival here on the challenges posed by diseases that are not spread by human-to-human contact but pose major health problems like diabetes, blood pressure and heart ailments.
Dr Arvind Chopra, distinguished Scientist Chair, AYUSH for public health and epidemiology, said a national survey on musculoskeletal pain had shown that those affected by arthritis were 0.32%.
