Govt diabetic foot registry finds no patients, thanks to pandemic

The only government-run registry for diabetic foot in the state, perhaps even in the whole of India, has been forced to bolt up by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Indeed, the number of people visiting the Karnataka Institute of Endocrinology and Research (KIER) has dropped so significantly that it recorded no new patients, except amputees.

Diabetic foot occurs when high blood sugar damages the nerves and blood vessels in the feet. The nerve damage, called diabetic neuropathy, can cause numbness, tingling pain, or a loss of feeling in the feet. Anyone afflicted with the condition will not realise if he is hurt or has a wound in his feet until it is serious.

This could worsen to the extent that the person may sometime require limb amputation. Healing of such wounds would be delayed.

India is the diabetes capital of the world, with the state being no exception. KIER, located on Old Madras Road, has screened approximately 50,000 pairs of diabetic feet from 2016 till date, out of whom 1,015 underwent amputation.

Nearly 117 patients had minor amputation where one to three toes were removed, and 898 had major amputation where part of the leg below or above the knee was removed.

Though diabetic foot is widespread, KIER has only two doctors in its podiatry department who treat the feet and its ailments. Notably, no other government hospital in the state or country has this department.

“Podiatry hasn’t been considered a specialty though it deserves to be treated as one considering the number of diabetic foot cases,” said orthopedic surgeon Dr Pavan Belehalli, one of the two doctors at the department.

“Everyone from a physician to an orthopedic surgeon treats wounds without explaining the pathophysiology of diabetic ulcers and providing appropriate counselling to the patient,” he added.

The doctor said the annual state budgets never made a mention of KIER, monetary allocations or recruiting more manpower in the form of doctors. More so it is important now because many Covid patients have developed diabetes post recovery.

“We stopped recording the number of new patients, reviews or follow-ups, and the number of dressings because of a drastic decline (in patients’ visit) from 2020 to 2022. Only amputations were recorded in the registry. The disease burden is high. We have approached the state health department to conduct screening camps and counselling for diabetic foot as it affects everyone from agriculturists to techies in urban areas in their 20s and 30s,” Dr Belehalli said.

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