The State government has written a letter to the KIMS director asking to study and submit a feasibility report to set up the centre, first in North Karnataka and second in the State. “The study will be taken up soon. Though the centre will be attached to KIMS, it will be an autonomous body,” Dr G B Sattur, member, Governing Council, KIMS, Hubli, told Deccan Herald.

Dr Sattur, with more than two decades of experience in the field of diabetology and several researches about diabetics in North Karnataka, submitted a proposal to the government a few months ago stressing the need for setting up such a centre to cater to the requirements of diabetics in the region.

Doctors, led by Dr Sattur, pressurised Revenue Minister Jagadish Shettar and Dharwad MP Pralhad Joshi who took up the matter with the government, which finally responded.

It will be a Rs 10 crore-project initially with modern infrastructure to treat different types of diabetes and patients suffering from several complications due to diabetes. If all goes well, the centre should become a reality within a year, Dr Sattur said.

“This diabetic referral centre will easily accommodate around 100 outpatients per day besides in-patient facilities. We have also plans to request the government to set up a separate diabetic wing at every district hospital or in cities where the population is more than one lakh across North Karnataka. The wing can conduct tests on routine basis and will have a surgeon, a physician and a diet advisor. It will automatically follow once the centre at KIMS comes up,” he added.

Medicines for diabetes are given free of cost at government hospitals. But, recently introduced anti-diabetic drugs are not supplied as they are too expensive. Hence, such centres will be a blessing for poor patients in rural areas, he stated.

Around 12 per cent of the whole of NK population is diabetic. The biggest problem of the region is lack of awareness among masses, especially rural masses. Growth of diabetics has been exponential during the last two decades due to changed food habits and lifestyle.

The presentation of patients in NK  with critical symptoms in uncommon. Doctors pick such patients up during routine testings, Dr Sattur said quoting results of the studies.