Camp for comprehensive diabetic check-up

New Delhi, May 28 (UNI) In the face of such staggering facts Eli Lilly and Company (India) Pvt Ltd, today announced the launch of 'Peaks and Valley Complications Check Camp' (PVCC) as a special campaign for increasing awareness and reducing complications caused by diabetes.

The Low Socio-Economic Stratum (LSES) spend upto 30 per cent of their income on diabetic management. The total expenditure for treating diabetes and its complications amount to Rs 1,68,725 crore per year, surpassing the health budget.

As a part of its 'Insulin Discovery Week' commemorating 85 years of world's first insulin being commercially made available by Lilly, the PVCC programme reiterates the need for checking and controlling elevated glucose levels in order to reduce the risk of diabetes related complications.

''To run this camp, there has been no tie-up with any hospitals at the moment, but since it's a three year programme, the possibility can be explored in future,'' Lilly India Chairman and Managing Director Sandeep Gupta told reporters here.

He also said at present there is no plans to reduce the price of insulin. However, if government regulations become favourable then there is a possibility for further reduction in price.

The camp is generally aimed at small practitioners and hospitals which do have a setup to conduct the costly and varied test for diabetes, Lilly India Medical Director Vinod Mathur told newsmen.

The camp would help physicians to test from blood glucose providing additional care to patients in form of a comprehensive check-up package that include checking Nephropathy (kidneys), Fundoscopy (eyes problems) and foot examination with a Biothesiometer to check peripheral neutropathy.

All these tests will be performed by trained personnel free of cost and the camp targets around 50,000 patients over a period of three years, in the centers spread across 50 cities.

''This is a part of our corporate social responsibility (CSR),'' company's Senior Vice President (Marketing) Devashish Ohri told UNI.

The company plans to achieve a sales growth of 18-20per cent for this year. For the calender year 2006, the company achieved 40 million dollars turnover, and plans to increase it by two and a half times this year.

India has 46 million diabetic patients today and the figures are expected to rise to 80 million by the year 2025.

UNI