Adults above the age of 30 and all pregnant women in Delhi's slums will be screened for diabetes and hypertension as part of a campaign by the union health ministry and Delhi government's department of health to check the spread of these two lifestyle diseases.

“By next March, 15 crore people will be diagnosed for diabetes and hypertension under this campaign which will be taken to 100 most inaccessible districts in 21 states and 30 slums in cities soon,” said union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Every fourth adult in Delhi is either diabetic or prone to the disease. In Delhi, 5.8 crore adults have diabetes and the number is expected to rise to nearly 8.7 crore by 2030.

Rs 11.5 crore has already been given to states in this years's budget for the implementation of such programmes, informed Azad. The health ministry has also provided 120 glucometers and six lakh strips to the Delhi government for implementation of the campaign.

“The Delhi government’s health department is planning to start out-patient departments for diabetes at least three days in a week in all 36 hospitals under the government here,” said Delhi health minister A K Walia.

There are 28 lakh people living in Delhi slums. India has the most number of diabetics after China. The prevalence of hypertension in India is at 15.9 percent.

According to the national urban diabetic survey, the prevalence of diabetes in urban areas is 12.1 percent in people above 20 years old. In Delhi, the prevalence of the disease is between 10.6 to 11.5 percent.