Cases of diabetes has been on the rise, and this week for our Community wise edition, we bring to you about RSSDI, that’s working towards raising awareness and also preventing the rise in the cases.
Shikha Duggal
Diabetes has become an increased concern for the rural population in our country. As per the latest updates, diabetes can be reversed when the HbA1c lowers to 6.5% without relying on medicine. So, all the investigations and experimentations on diabetes are tested by the Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India for the citizens of this country, to be overhauled by the information on this disease.
RSSDI was registered under the Societies Registration Act, XXI of 1860 by the Registrar of Societies. Speaking to The Pioneer, Dr. BM Makkar, diabetologist and president of RSSDI, says, “One has to know that diabetes is not a mild and simple disease. It is a very serious disease! For example, type 2 diabetes is usually slow and subclinical which means you don’t have symptoms beginning with but by the time the diabetes is diagnosed—the changes in the physiology and metabolism, abnormality have started 10-15 years before the diagnosis. Once you are diagnosed with diabetes: the blood sugar is important to be handled but at the same time one who is diagnosed with the diabetes also has increase risk of heart disease, kidney disease, strokes, all other complications of diabetes, so it is very important to give a wake up call and that’s what our society does.”
There is no kind of division on what works better, there is a very good concern on the general broad guidelines for management of diabetes for all adults across the globe! Component of individualisation is important and it depends on various factors and for this they have RSSDI guidelines which takes into consideration all these factors. These factors include age of the patient, body mark index of the patient, the presence of the kidney function, the duration of diabetes, degree of glucose, the risk of getting hypoglycemia. So, if an elderly cannot manage hypoglycemia, the society has to use a different approach, the presence and absence of cardiovascular disease, the financial concerns, deciding the treatment strategies, for diabetes management and individualise the therapy. “To predict the risk we have very good recommendations for screening, so most of the people with diabetes will not have any symptoms. It is advisable to screen all individuals who are at high risk of developing diabetes at the first opportunity. So, the society can tell you the next course of action,” added the president.
For clarification, it is not a society that plans to launch anything, they run a pharmaceutical industry. Once a week the insulin is tested in clinical trials and has been found to be effective already and approved overseas.
Moreover, “Awareness about diabetes is very low at the public level and even at the health care provider level! In general, the paradigms and the families of people living with diabetes, the awareness about diabetes is not good, so many people take it vaguely. It’s a general notion that people who have diabetes are normal and now you have so many self-styled diabetes management gurus and herbal preparations who are taking over above us. Unfortunately in our country, the cost of medication and also the blood sugar test has been a concern. Currently, 15 % of the people with diabetes check their sugar at home but 85% don’t check glucose at home! How will they manage their diabetes? This is where we come into play.”
Hence, diabetes poses a serious health threat to our nation. Modern medicines are accessible to manage their growth, but our access to them is limited due to its diversified ecosystem. So, such societies help in raising awareness and developing strategies to control this condition. We must look into it!
