With alarming rise of diabetics in Kashmir Doctors Association Kashmir (DAK) today launched diabetes detection drive with an aim to catch the disease early and raise awareness among people.
While inaugurating the drive at Pattan, President DAK Dr Nisar ul Hassan said the aim of this campaign is to find unrecognized diabetes. We want to reach as many residents as possible and persuade them to be tested for diabetes.
Most of the people do not know they have diabetes-those are the people we want to help. Early detection and prompt treatment will reduce the burden of disease and its complications.
Screening as many people as possible (especially those at high risk) is critical to increase life expectancy and reduce premature deaths from this non-communicable disease.
As symptoms of diabetes may not be noticed by the patient in the early stage of their disease, screening and education is crucial. Certain individuals are more likely to develop diabetes than others-but since anyone may develop diabetes at any age, it is wise for others to take the test.
The detection drive which has been started today will be a year-round effort.
During this campaign free sugar checkups and free antidiabetic medicines will be provided to diabetics. A team of specialist doctors led by DAK Spokesperson Dr Riyaz Ahmad Daga today at Pattan screened 800 patients out of which 27 new cases of diabetes were detected.
Most of the newly diagnosed diabetics were obese followed by physical inactivity and unhealthy life styles. Majority of patients were asymptomatic and unaware that they had the disorder.
Diabetic patients were sensitized for self monitoring of sugars and were made aware of complications of diabetes and life style modification for prevention of the disease. Individuals with undiagnosed diabetes are at significantly higher risk of stroke, heart attack and amputation.
As of 2015, an estimated 415 million people have diabetes worldwide and is expected to rise to 592 million by 2035. India, already the diabetic capital of the world, is heading towards a diabetic explosion with 100 million people to be affected by 2030.
