Diabetes registry for Goa to be completed by Dec '09

NT NETWORK
Posted on 2008-12-13
PANAJI- The 100 per cent screening for diabetes in two cities in North and South Goa and the Goa Diabetes Registry will be completed by December 2009. This was decided at the ‘Changing Diabetes Barometer International Seminar’ held earlier this week at Oxford, United Kingdom. The Goa model would be followed in other parts of the country on its completion by incorporating changes, if necessary. It was also decided to hold diabetes summit (a national program) in every quarter of the year.
The steps taken by the Goa government at the behest of the Health Minister, Mr Vishwajit Rane, to screen people for presence of diabetes got a word of appreciation from the 120 participants and the resource persons from 20 countries at the seminar who said that the state has taken a right decision to combat the disease by creating data of the people suffering from it. Novo Nordisk, world leader in diabetic care, has undertaken the screenin project in Goa under public-private partnership project.
Diabetes specialists and world leaders working towards controlling diabetes called for increased attention of the policy makers towards this global menace, which, as of now, is estimated to have afflicted around 246 million people worldwide and could be described as modern day pandemic.
They also said that diabetes was low on the agenda of policy makers and as such this lackadaisical approach at combating the disease should be changed so that the lives of the people afflicted was improved, and to lessen its socio-economic impact.
The topics discussed at the seminar were the barometer initiative, the broader context and macro-economic arguments for improved diabetes treatment, the diabetes atlas and data base, using data to drive improvement in outcomes for people with diabetes, lessons from cancer registries, approaches to collecting and comparing data in Sweden, Italy, USA, Australia, national experiences of using data to bring about change as done in Netherlands, Israel, England, facing grand challenges in diabetes, creating awareness, working in partnership to change diabetes and national breakout sessions.
The specialists in diabetes care and world leaders called upon policy makers to initiate steps to control diabetes through holistic approach and called for creation of database, without which, they said, it would be impossible to control the disease.
It was brought to the notice of the participants at the seminar, which was jointly organised by International Diabetes Federation (Europe), Oxford Health Alliance and the Novo Nordisk, that at least 50 per cent of the people suffering from diabetes were unaware of their condition as they were not being treated for it and that in most countries there was hardly any initiative to combat the disease.
The speakers also said that the number of diabetes patients was likely to go up to 380 million by the year 2025 and that annual direct global spending on diabetes treatment was likely to go up to US dollars 303-559 as diabetes pandemic evolves, from US dollars 232-422 at present. They also said that according to several studies more than 50 per cent of healthcare spending on diabetes was related to hospitalisation for treating many serious complications arising from undiagnosed or poorly treated diabetes.
The Changing Diabetes Barometer has been developed as a framework for measuring the progress of the initiatives around the world and was intended to inspire and support key national stakeholders to take action and establish measuring systems that could be applied as part of their national health care systems.
Later, at the national breakout sessions the participants from India discussed various strategies to combat the disease. The participants also decided to work for capacity building for the rural health care providers in the country and seek private and public sector help in controlling diabetes. Besides, it was decided to hold media advocacy workshop in various parts of the country to create an awakening among the people about the disease and its implications if not treated and also form a political advocacy group by holding exhibition with screening for the MLAs of Goa.
The Goan delegation consisted of Dr R G Wiseman Pinto, professor and head of pathology department, Goa Medical College, Dr Rajnanda Dessai, director of health services, Dr Marlon Pereira, member of advisory committee to Goa Health Minister, and Mr Abdul Rauf Beig, principal correspondent – The Navhind Times.
Other members from India who participated in the seminar included Dr Ashok Kumar Das, additional director general of health services of government of India, Dr Dorairaj Prabhakaran, principal investigator-community health interventions, Delhi, Dr K R Thankappan, principal investigator-community health interventions, Kerala, and Mr Venkat Kalyan, marketing director of Novo Nordisk India Pvt Ltd.