Thiruvananthapuram: Finance minister Thomas Isaac, while presenting the Budget for 2017-18 in the Kerala Assembly on Friday, announced free medicines for people suffering from lifestyle diseases like hypertension, diabetes and cholesterol.
Isaac said the medicines would be supplied through the state-run hospitals at all levels.
"I am setting aside Rs 10 crore for revamping facilities at the Kerala State Drugs and Pharmaceuticals which will be producing these medicines," said Isaac, who hails from Alappuzha district, where the factory is based.
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Studies have pointed out that in Kerala 22 percent of the population above the age of 25 has been diagnosed with diabetes and is heading to become the diabetic capital of the country.
Likewise, hypertension is on the increase and affects more than 20 percent of adult population and when it came to incidence of cholesterol it has been found out that almost 50 percent of the general adult population in the state is on the higher side in cholesterol levels.