AP witnessed sharp rise in alcohol-induced diseases during 2019-24, says report

Andhra Pradesh recorded an alarming increase in the number of patients suffering from alcohol-induced liver, kidney and neurological diseases during 2019-2024, compared to the previous five years, a latest study conducted by the state health department said on Friday.

Special chief secretary to health M T Krishna Babu said the department had constituted a committee of prominent physicians to analyse the health profiles of the patients who had undergone treatment in various hospitals under Arogyasri scheme in the last 10 years.

Arogyasri, renamed as NTR Arogya Seva, by the present Telugu Desam Party-led NDA government, is a scheme aiming to provide cashless treatment to the people below poverty line in various private hospitals empanelled with the government.

Krishna Babu said the expert committee was asked to study what diseases the patients were suffering from and how many of them were related to alcohol consumption. The data was acquired through the patients’ database under Arogyasri scheme.

“We have found a startling increase in the number of patients suffering from liver, kidney and neurological diseases in 2019-24 compared to 2014-19. We are quite concerned and we are analysing the data for further action,” he said.

According to the data, which was reviewed by HT, as many as 14,026 patients who had undergone treatment under Arogyasri scheme during 2014-19 were suffering from alcohol-related liver diseases. They include 11,764 male and 2,262 female.

In the next five years (2019-24), this number shot up to 29,369 patients between 2019 and 2024, including 24,519 male and 4,850 female. “This is more than 100% increase in a span of five years,” the report said.

Similarly, the number of patients suffering from alcohol-related neurological diseases was only 1,276 (including 966 male and 310 female) during 2014-19; but it went up sharply to 12,663 (8810 male and 3853 female) in the next five years – an increase of 920%.

The report also said most of the affected among these patients suffering from alcohol-related liver and neurological diseases was the young population in the age group of 35-40 years. There was an increase of young patients suffering from alcohol-related liver diseases from 4437 to 9362. “In the neurological diseases, too, the number of young patients went up from 260 to 2,882,” the report said.

Even with regard to alcohol-induced kidney diseases, the number of patients went up from 49,060 during 2014-19 to 90,385 during 2019-24, the report said.

Though the experts committee did not mention the causes for the steep increase in the number of patients suffering from alcohol-related liver, kidney and neurological diseases, an official of the department who refused to be quoted said it could be due to supply of substandard brands of liquor manufactured by local distilleries at cheaper rates during the previous YSR Congress party regime.

“The previous government, which took over the retail sale of liquor, had done away with the popular brands and replaced them with local brands, which lacked quality. This could be one of the reasons, if not the only reason, for the steep increase in the number of patients suffering from liver, kidney, neurological diseases,” the official added.