Discourse on diabetes mellitus in the Indian parliament: A thematic analysis of questions posed in lok sabha and rajya sabha between 1999 and 2019

Background: Analysis of discourse on diabetes mellitus in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha could give insight on the priority attention of policy-makers. Objective: Our aim was to elicit trends in discourse on diabetes mellitus in the Indian Parliament that could have shaped and/or resulted from policy and programmatic action over the past two decades, by thematically analyzing the content of Indian parliamentary questions posed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Government of India on diabetes mellitus during 1999–2019. Methods: This descriptive study sourced the records of Parliamentary questions from the websites of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha during the period of 13th to 16th Lok Sabha (November 1999 to February 2019). Using the keyword, “Diabet,” we sampled relevant questions posed to/by MOHFW in this study including their text and other relevant information and used a combination of content as well as thematic analyses approaches to synthesize and interpret the results. Results: We derived a total of 232 question bundles featuring 930 questions. The frequency of questions on diabetes saw an increasing trend over the two decades. Four themes emerged: epidemiology and surveillance, population health programs, policy initiatives, and Research and Development (R and D). Questions posed in the latter years were more specific and solution-oriented unlike the initial years when these were rather broad-based and problem enumerative in nature. Within these themes, parliamentarians focused on the diabetes burden in the community, need for raising awareness, expanding testing facilities, strengthening drug regulation, and improving treatment affordability. There were fewer questions in R and D, rehabilitation, and integration of services themes. Conclusion: Trends in the questions posed in both the Houses of the Indian Parliament indicate India's increasing attention to diabetes mellitus in its legislative discourse. However, the number of questions on diabetes taken up in the Parliament is too low to infer on consistent trends in their impact on programmatic and policy action.