Effective training can contain prevalence of diabetes: expert

Chennai, July 8 (UNI) The city-based Diabetes Research Centre and M V Diabetes Hospital, a WHO collaborating centre, has so far trained 2,510 doctors and 1,124 para medical personnel to provide diabetes health care at the Primary Health Care levels.

''The centre had obtained the financial assistance of World Diabetes Foundation (WDF),'' Dr A Ramachandran, director of the centre for training programme said, adding, the categories of the trainees were from the project states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Pondicherry.

He said diabetes was emerging as a global public health problem with India topping the list with a burden of 35.5 million patients.

The prevalence of the disease lies around 12-15 per cent in the urban areas and 4-6 per cent in the rural areas.

One third of the people suffering from diabetes in the urban areas and 50 per cent in the rural areas were yet to be detected because of the asymptomatic nature of the disorder.

Mr Ramachandran said there was no formal training programme for doctors and para medical staff to take care of diabetes service delivery either in the government or in the private system to build up the capacity of service providers.

Prof Dr N Murugesan, project director, said by March 2007 more than 3,000 doctors would have been trained. During the training these doctors and para medical staff were motivated to focus all their attention on prevention of diabetes by raising awareness of people and the high risk groups.

The doctors were asked to pay more attention towards diabetic people and increase awareness among people on how to tackle the comlications generated due to it.

''The objects of the WDF project was to ensure that the people living in rural, semi-urban and remote areas to gain access to effective and economically affordable diabetes care, utilising the existing health care system, both public and private,'' Dr Murugesan added.

He also introduced Dr Tariq Parvez, the first medical doctor from Sialkot, Pakistan, working with Bethania Hospital, a Christian missionary hospital in Pakistan, who is now undergoing a three weeks diabetes training.

''The ongoing workshop cum training is a good opportunity for the doctors and others,''Dr Parvez told reporters.

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