By Our Staff Reporter
Rishikesh, 11 Nov: The Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, AIIMS Rishikesh, is organising several programmes to observe World Diabetes Day, with a vision towards better patient care and increased awareness among health care providers.
Fourteen November is the birth anniversay of Dr Frederick Banting, the scientist who discovered Insulin. It is for this reason that 14 November is also observed as World Diabetes Day. Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases of the current age. India is home to 77 million people with diabetes mellitus as per the estimates by the International Diabetes Federation.
Prof Ravi Kant, Director of AIIMS, said that such awareness programs are the need of the hour. He added that the Department of Endocrinology caters to patients with various adult and paediatric endocrine disorders like those of thyroid, problems in growth and puberty, metabolic bone disease, pituitary disorders, adrenal disorders, obesity and type 1, type 2 diabetes and diabetes occurring during pregnancy. The department currently has 2 faculty members catering to pediatric and adult services, both, in the OPD and IPD levels.
Professor Manoj Gupta, Dean, Academic, who was the Chief Guest at a quiz programme, said that type 1 or Juvenile diabetes which affects children and youth and needs lifelong treatment with insulin is also on the rise and it is estimated that India has one of the highest population of children affected with this condition with 16,000 new cases detected every year.
The department organised a patient support programme for patients with type 1 diabetes to whom roughly 2 months’ supply of insulin cartridges were given free of cost on an OPD basis. The programme also entailed giving detailed education to the patients and care givers regarding management of diabetes, optimal diet, and correct insulin administration technique. In view of the pandemic, the programme was spread out over a week to avoid overcrowding in the OPDs.
There was also a quiz programme for postgraduate residents on the 9 November that witnessed enthusiastic participation by the residents especially from departments of Medicine and Paediatrics. This programme was chaired by the Dean Prof Manoj Gupta, who also gave away the prizes to the winners. First prize in the quiz was won by Dr Ashwin and Dr Mohan, while the second prize was won by Dr Paras Gupta and Dr Mayank Kapoor, and the third prize was won by Dr Gokul Pillai and Dr Rajkumar. On 9 November, there were also online faculty talks on the topic, ‘In-hospital diabetes management’, by Dr Kriti Joshi, Dr Kalyani Sridharan and Dr Ravi Kant.
