Booze-related health problems spiked in AP from 2019 to 2024: Data
NEW DELHI: Liver and kidney problems induced by alcohol consumption went up manifold in
Andhra Pradesh
between 2019 and 2024, a study by the state's health department has found, with the period under question coinciding with the YSRCP regime that is also facing charges of a massive "liquor scam".
Studying the admissions under the Arogyasri scheme for free treatment to patients between 2014 and 2024, a three-doctor team set up by the health department found that alcohol-associated liver patients went up from 14,026 in 2014-19 to 29,369 in 2019-24.
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The worst affected were people in the 35-44 years age group - the number of patients in this category shot up from 4,419 to 9,362 during the two five-year periods, a startling 100% increase.
Similarly, alcohol-related neurological patients shot up from 1,276 to 12,663 between 2014-19 and 2019-24, with the younger segment (35-44 years age group) being the worst hit - the number of patients in this segment rose from 260 to 2,882, a 1000% increase.
Following the same pattern, alcohol-related kidney patients rose from 49,060 to 90,385, an 84% increase.
While the jump in the number of patients associated with alcohol consumption would have been just a health problem, the backdrop of the alleged "liquor scam" during the Jaganmohan Reddy govt has added a political dimension to the medical woes of locals. The spike overlapped the change of govt in AP, and now, the comparative study of health department under the TDP govt indicts the previous YSRCP dispensation.
Speaking with TOI, Krishna Babu, special chief secretary (health and family welfare) said making sense of the results of the study was tricky as medical problems because of alcohol use have shot up massively without the matching spike in alcohol consumption year-on-year.
He said, "We have to check the reason why it has happened. The reasons can be excess consumption, nature of alcohol used and the process of distillation."
The finger, thus, may point to the quality of liquor available in the state during the same period - a point that may be politically fraught given the backdrop of the "liquor scam", whereby the allegation is that national brands disappeared from liquor stores in AP and were replaced by unknown and lesser-known labels. YSRCP has denied the allegations of a scam, calling it a narrative peddled by the governing TDP to castigate the opposition party and besmirch its tenure.
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