Juvenile diabetes on the rise
World Diabetes Day: Community voices concern
Like most of the patients with Type-I diabetes, Hamsini B R wakes up in the morning and gets her daily shot of insulin to see her through the day.
She monitors her blood sugar levels every alternate day and like every other diabetic patient, she thinks twice before eating what is set out on her plate.
However, unlike most diabetes patients, Hamsini does not like walking eight kilometres everyday, or hitting the gym as mandated by doctors. Instead, this teenager prefers to head to the playground with her group of 20 friends where she plays for hours.
Hamsini is among a growing number of children who are being diagnosed with Type-I diabetes early in childhood. Several studies have estimated that nearly 70,000 children in India under the age of 15 years develop juvenile Type-I diabetes every year. That works out to almost 200 children a day. And this figure is growing at about five per cent per year.
Hamsini still remembers the day when she learnt of her condition: April 22, 2007. It was the same day she had a close brush with death.
“I had fever and was shivering. The doctor initially suspected a ear infection, so we got a
blood test done. The results showed that I might have diabetes, and I was admitted to a hospital,” she says. “If I hadn’t been diagnosed correctly, I would not have been here today,” she says.
To bring home the point about diabetes among children, Hamsini was asked to speak to hundreds of children at a walk for diabetes organised by Rotary Club of Bangalore on the Sunday.
The day was being celebrated not only as the Children’s Day, but also as World Diabetes Day. “Hi, My name is Hamsini B R and I am from Nirmala Rani High School,” she said to the crowd. “And I am very happy to be a diabetic,” she declared.
Walk to promote awareness
The Rotary Club of Bangalore organised a walk in Cubbon park on the occasion of World Diabetes day on Sunday. The walk was flagged off at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association by Bangalore Mayor S K Nataraj, and saw hundreds of people, including students participate in the walk.
Mayor S K Nataraj who inaugurated the event said that diabetes has become widespread in Bangalore. To advised the students, who participated in the walk, to exercise regularly. “You must run, jog, play, and swim everyday,” he added.
Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner H Siddaiah said that nearly 40 per cent of diabetic patients are from India.
“This is not good news for a developing nation like India. We need to regulate our food habits, and exercise regularly”, he said. This is possible only students begin this right in the beginning, he added.
The diabetic walk was organised to raise funds to set up a fullfledged diagnostic centre at the Rotary Muthappa Attavar Hospital, a not-for-profit organisation situated in Channasandra in Bangalore.
The new facilities planned includes laser coagulation for diabetic retinopathy, renal dialysis, foot care clinic and a mobile hospital for diabetic awareness at rural areas.
The mobile hospital unit will travel 30 to 50 kilometre to villages where the poor cannot afford treatment, said Rotary officials.
