Indore: About 15 percent of policemen were found diabetic and surprisingly 50 percent of them were not even aware that they were afflicted by this disease.
The startling data came to the fore on Thursday when Radiance Clinic and Madhumeh Choupal in association with Indian Medical Association-Indore conducted a random blood sugar test on the occasion of World Diabetes Day.
According to endocrinologist Dr Sandeep Julka, the activity was performed to spread awareness among people about the ‘Silent Killer’. This year, the theme of World Diabetes Day is ‘Family and Diabetes’.
“Out of 1500 people, mainly policemen, who took the random sugar test, 220 people i.e. 15 percent had higher sugar level. Surprisingly, 50 of them didn’t even know that they were suffering from diabetes,” Dr Julka said.
He added that one of the policemen had random blood sugar level of 342 but he was unaware of the same. “We have suggested medication and life style changes to the policeman along with going through proper checkup,” he added.
Policemen of DRP Line, SP office, 15th Battalion and 18 police stations including Mahila Thana had taken the test along with few people at 56 Dukan.
“Along with random check-up, we informed the policemen about certain changes in their lifestyle, regular exercise, and medications to few of them to prevent the disease. Number of cases of type II diabetes has been increasing continuously. However, 50 percent of diabetes can be prevented with exercise and diet,” he said.
Meanwhile, president of Indian Medical Association-Indore Dr Shekhar Rao said that observing World Diabetes Day was started from 1991 in joint collaboration of International Diabetes Federation and World Health Organization due to increasing number of patients swiftly. “We aimed to observe the day with those who always work for our safety,” he added.
EFFECTIVE MEASURES:
Pay attention to specific needs of women
Access to health care
Preconception planning
Physical activity
Train health care personnel
ALARMING FACTS:
One person dies of diabetes every second in world
One woman dies in every four seconds
Diabetes accounts for 21 Lakh women death worldwide each year
Risk of diabetes increases by 80% due to five kg weight gain after 18 years of age
Two out of five diabetic women are in reproductive age, which means diabetes can pass on to their kids as well
Annually Rs 316 billion is spent on diabetes worldwide. This is 11.6% of the total health care expenditure.
