A Consultant, Endocrinologist in Barau Dikko Teaching hospital, Kaduna, Dr Ovosi Bello, has said Diabetes disease is no respecter of human beings, whether Rich, Poor or beggar, as it affects every part of Organs in the body.
Dr Bello stated this while fielding questions from our correspondent in Commemoration of the ‘World Diabetes Day marked globally on the 14th November yearly since the discovery of Insulin one hundred(100) years ago.
She said the Non-Communicable disease had become an enormous burden to most people, both elderly and middle-aged in society, due to their ways of life.
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According to her, the westernization that is taking place, both the elderly and those in the middle age are coming down with Diabetes because they have moved from the traditional ways of doing things to the westernized way of living.
“Moving towards the westernized ways of doing things, The kind of things we consume have lots of effects on us. We go to the supermarket and buy refined foods. Diabetes doesn’t like those refined foods. It is the local ones, those that have Micros Nutrients, we don’t need foods that are on the shelf which are refined”.
Diabetes is no respect for human beings, and it doesn’t care whether you are rich, poor, or a beggar or a politician. It affects all the organs of the body, from the head to the toes. It involves the heart, brain, kidney, liver, nerves, eyes and every other organ in the body”, she said.
Speaking on this year’s theme,’ Access to care: If not now, when Dr Bello explained that the essence is to get those in the rural setting informed on how to manage Diabetes as many people don’t have access to care.
She emphasized that those with no tertiary institutions for health service delivery patronize the Primary Health Care centres for treatment. Thus the need for them to be educated on how to manage a diabetic patient.
“People who are in the rural areas don’t have access to care. The Primary health care we are talking about, very few places in those rural areas have primary health care and are not even well equipped, so the onus is on us to spread the message. Educate those in the Primary health care centres to recognize symptoms when people come with symptoms of Diabetes. We will teach them to institute management. When they institute the management, then they send to secondary care and tertiary care. The reason why they are sending to a specialist is So that we give them the right medication to avoid getting those complications of Diabetes.”
She advised diabetic patients above 45 to always go for routine checks up as it is the only way to control the blood sugar in the body.
“Please check your blood sugar regularly, if you archeckuptic, and you are on medication be regular on your medications, go for regular checkups, managing Diabetes is multidisciplinary, when you go for a checkup, they will send you to other specialists who will check other parts of the organs eyes, aside from that if you are 45 and abovecheckup regular blood sugar check, So we advise that in as much as you feel you are okay, we still advise your check regular. Always go for a routine check-up”.
