New Delhi, Mar 17 (IANS): A Rajya Sabha members demanded on Tuesday that the government should provide diabetes test kits and medicines at affordable price for the children in rural areas of the country.

Raising the issue, BJP lawmaker Ashok Vajpayee said that Type I diabetes has become prevalent in the villages among the age group up to seven recently.

"This is an alarming situation in the rural India as the villagers are not very much aware of diabetes and in most of the cases the children die at early age,a he said.

The BJP member pointed that the villagers do not have labs for preventive tests which is easily available in urban area.

"For this category of diabetes, Insulin is only medicines which is not only costly but needs to be kept on refrigeration which would not be possible in the villages or rural areas," Vajpayee stressed.

He then urged the government to provide the free test kits and medicines to primary health centres so that these children should be saved and also those kids should be kept under the category of 'Divyang'.

Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu however said that those children should not be kept under the category of the Divyang category as this will caste a negative impression on their tender minds.

Another BJP member Ashok Bajpai said that treatment of children affected by type one diabetes in rural areas needs to be addressed on urgent note.