Diabetes Cases Rising in Pakistan

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Source: http://epaper.dawn.com, Sundays Dawn Newspaper, 15th November 2009.

Concern over rise in Diabetes Cases
Peshawar, nov 14: speakers at a seminar held on saturday to mark the world diabetes day expressed concern over the rising number of diabetic patients in the country and have called upon the people to do regular exercise, decrease use of ghee and eat fresh fruits and vegetable to keep the disease at bay.

“About 15 per cent of the country’s popula- tion suffer from diabetes due to eating habits, smoking, lack of exercise, obesity and prevalent social tension,” said dr usman raza of the com- munity medicine department of the peshawar medical college (pmc) on saturday.

He said the disease also paved the way for oth- er medical complications such as heart prob- lems, kidney disease, hypertension and ailments of gums and teeth. all such medical conditions, he said, were avoidable provided the people took precautionary measures and changed their eat- ing habits. the world diabetes day is observed throughout the world to pay tribute to canadian scientist fredrick banting, who discovered insu- lin in 1921. the discovery of insulin, dr raza said, had saved 350 million lives since then.

The seminar was organised jointly by the community medicines and biochemistry depart- ments of the pmc to raise awareness level of non-medical staff of the college about the cau- ses and prevention of the disease. dr raza said 40,000 people in the province suffered from dia- betes and the number was rising owing to bad dietary regimes coupled with tobacco use and lack of mobilisation. on this occasion, a poster competition about diabetes was also held in which 30 posters were received from the college students.

Dr saeed anwar told the seminar that use of narcotics was also among the reasons for soaring number of diabetes patients, adding at least 30- minute exercise was required daily to stay healthy. the people who suffer from obesity or have problems of frequent urination, loss of weight, hunger and weakness should undergo investigation to analyse the sugar level in their blood, he added.

Mohammad qasim aman, a fourth-year stu- dent, spoke about the factors leading to the dis- ease. he said prevalence of diabetes in the fam- ily caused the disease in related people. he said pregnant diabetic women should take extreme care while eating because their newborn babies could also have the disease.

Source: http://epaper.dawn.com, Sundays Dawn Newspaper, 15th November 2009.

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