The BMC is all set to double the number of diabetes clinics it operates in the coming weeks. Currently it operates 28 of them and also plans to maintain a registry of all diabetic patients. ‘Given the response to the programme, we are planning to open 27 more clinics,’ additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar said. These clinics have identified 3,431 new patients with diabetes in the one year that they have been operating. ‘Not all of these patients need treatment. So, we have started 1,475 of these on medication and provide lifestyle-modification counselling for the rest,’ she said.
Along with the previous 2,448 patients The BMC will also free medication to 3,923 patients. ‘We provide tablets but not injectable insulin,” she said. The registry will help the BMC track diabetics for life and keep diabetes-related complications at bay.
It has also been running a door-to-door campaign in 24 health post areas to find patients. The 15-day campaign has so far thrown up 754 new patients who were previously unaware that they had diabetes. There are plans to carry out door-to-door checks on 27 more health post areas. The BMC has also started a workplace intervention programme, starting with random blood sugar blood checks in its own offices. ‘There were 234 employees who knew they had diabetes, but we found 147 employees who were unaware that they were diabetic,’ she said.
According to an ICMR study, 8.4% of all residents suffer from diabetes in Maharashtra. Another study suggested that one in three persons in the state could be affected by both diabetes and hypertension.
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