Study: Cost of NCDs on economy increased to $591.4m

Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) amount to 40 per cent of all disease costs. This was accounted for by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services. The ministry’s head of wellness Dr Devina Nand also revealed that the cost of NCDs on the economy increased from $406 million in 2015 to $591.41 million in the most recent study.

She said these were preliminary findings and acknowledged the United Nations Development Programme that had been supporting the study.

“In terms of NCDs around the higher estimate, the human capital development methods show that $591.41 million is what it costs to the Fijian economy,” she said.

“So we’ve actually increased our cost in terms of NCDs over the years.”

She also said that the lower estimate for the health bill from NCDs was estimated around $362million.

“Think about what we can do with this money around development. Influx into the education sector, influx into the utility sector and other developing measures so that money can be used elsewhere,” she said.

“How can we change this? How can we save this money and use it for better areas in development? Rather than spending it on costs to treat our people who suffer from chronic diseases?”

She said in terms of direct costs by diseases, NCDs had the highest cost at 40 per cent.

“NCDs in our setting also include injuries,” she said.

“They include rehab care, nutritional deficiencies, and other long term care.

“So yes, NCDs are of course the highest cost to the economy and the highest cost in terms of national health accounts distributions.”

Dr Devina said a paradigm shift was needed to improve the issue.