The Covid-19 pandemic has shown how the internet became a crucial communication tool for doctors to connect with patients. On the occasion of World Diabetes Day (November 14), doctors and healthcare givers at Pune’s KEM Hospital’s diabetes and research centre recalled how this mode of communication helped to ensure that the patients did not drift away from diabetes maintenance goals.
World Diabetes Day provides an opportunity to raise awareness of diabetes as a global public health issue and what needs to be done collectively and individually for better prevention, diagnosis and management of the condition. This year’s theme “access to diabetes education” underpins the larger multi-year theme of “access to care.”
When contacted Dr C S Yajnik, director of the unit at KEM Hospital and noted diabetologist, told The Indian Express that they faced challenges but ensured that the unit scaled up access to diabetes medicines and care.
The KEM diabetes centre is a tertiary diabetes care and research centre in Pune, offering comprehensive diabetic management for all types of diabetes. The clinic caters to more than 1,200 type-1 diabetes patients across urban-rural regions and from all socioeconomic strata. It provides diabetes medical supplies such as insulin, syringes, pens, glucose strips and glucometers at a subsidised rate or free along with diabetes education and care to many needy patients.
The Covid-19 lockdown was an unprecedented period with travel restrictions, food unavailability, outdoor restrictions, and financial setbacks, recalled Dr Kalpana Jog, paediatric diabetologist at the unit. “These multiple challenges jeopardised the daily routine and care of patients,” Dr Jog said. What came in handy was the unit’s decade-long experience of being actively connected with patients and their families on various social media. A support group named Club One KEM and an interactive app called ‘Madhuraksha: A Pocket Diabuddy’, which teaches basic survival skill lessons and educational material, proved to be extremely useful, doctors recalled.
Type-1 diabetes is a 24/7 disease and the onus of its management is on the patient and the family. Recalling how they increased their activities on social media and scheduled home-based exercises using virtual platforms during the lockdown and Covid-related restrictions, Dr Jog also said their Club One KEM support group became more active online. In pre-Covid times, our group used to regularly undertake various online and real-life recreational activities.
According to a new study published in The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, authors Graham Ogle, Priyanka Rai and others said in 2021, there were about 8.4 million individuals worldwide with type-1 diabetes. Of these 1.5 million (18 per cent) were younger than 20 years while 5.4 million (64 per cent) were aged 20-59 years and 1.6 million (19 per cent) were above 60 years of age. In the same year, 0.5 million new cases were diagnosed and about 35,000 non-diagnosed individuals died within 12 months of symptomatic onset.
One-fifth of individuals with type-1 diabetes were in low-income and lower-middle-income countries. Missing prevalent cases in 2021 were estimated at 3.7 million and by 2040, the authors predicted an increase in prevalent cases to 17.4 million with the largest rise in low-income and lower-middle-income countries.
The essence of type-1 diabetes management is empowering the patients and families. “What is the need of the hour today is also to ensure that we reach out to sick children in remote areas and ensure diagnosis and treatment. There are many charitable institutions like Hinduja Foundation, Mukul Madhav Foundation, Nityasha Foundation and others who are working towards this effort,” Dr Yajnik said. Hence we need to step up awareness among the rural communities, he added.
