Diabetes awareness camp sets a record

A diabetes awareness camp held in the City on Sunday entered the Guinness Book of World Record for the highest number of participants.

As many as 2,621 people participated in the camp organised by Novo Nordisk, a diabetes healthcare company and broke an earlier record of about 500 participants at a similar awareness camp in San Diego, USA.

As part of the awareness programme, an hour-long awareness session on diabetes was held where healthcare professionals spoke about various methods to keep a tab on the problem. Apart from this, an exhibition was organised by children suffering from Type 1 diabetes.

Former Lokayukta chief Justice Santosh Hegde, who took part in the event said he has been diabetic for three decades and has been able to keep it under control through a strict regimen. He stressed the importance of a healthy lifestyle and regular health checkups to keep good health.

Director of Karnataka Institute of Diabetology Dr Narasimha Shetty advised patients to ensure that they get appropriate medication and proper medical advice. Early detection of diabetes will help avoid complications, he said.

He emphasised regular foot and eye check-ups, control of blood pressure and assessment of cardiovascular and kidney diseases. India has more than 61 million people suffering from diabetes and yet the awareness about the disease is shockingly poor, said Dr H M Krishnamurthy,  diabetologist, Sanket Healthcare.

Diabetes can impact not just the life of the person suffering from it but also that of the family, he added, speaking about creating more such awareness camps to sensitise people on the importance of medical interventions in diabetes the cases.