KARACHI:Health experts say diabetes is as dangerous as cancer but the it has been neglected during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic just as many other Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)but its patients suffered a lot of complications as many could not visit healthcare facilities due to restrictions and fear of contracting COVID-19, President of International Diabetes Federation (IDF) Prof Andrew Boulton Sunday said.
“Diabetes is equally dangerous as cancer or the heart disease,” said Boulton. “So many of diabetics who don’t take it seriously end up losing one or both of their legs as well as eye sight due to complications of the disease, especially diabetic foot ulcers”, Prof. Andrew Boulton said addressing the closing ceremony of 8th Nadep Foot Con 2020 through video link here in Karachi.
The two-day international foot conference, organized by the National Association of Diabetes Educators of Pakistan (NADEP) in collaboration with Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology (BIDE), Karachi is being held for last several years at various cities of Pakistan and it is addressed by leading diabetologists and endocrinologists who share their experiences in managing and treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and prevention of lower-limb amputations.
The IDF President maintained that due to COVID-19, there is a huge backlog of non-COVID treatments which was evident from the fact that one-third of the COVID-19 deaths in United Kingdom had diabetes and added that there is a need to focus on all types of diabetes and the lifestyle disease should be given the attention it deserves.
“There have been threats to diabetes care during first wave of pandemic where all routine out-patient clinics were cancelled, all routine investigations including X-ray and other scans were suspended, supply of medicines was affected, non-emergency surgeries were cancelled and even the transplant surgeries were cancelled or postponed indefinitely”, Prof. Boulton added.
Prof. Andrew Boulton maintained COVID-19 posed many threats for the diabetics which include quality of their diet deteriorated, many of them abandoned exercise, their blood sugar controls worsened, they had psychological impacts and in addition to that they developed fear of going to hospitals due to pandemic.
“But this pandemic also resulted in some good opportunities in diabetes care which including expansion in telemedicine medicines, digital education and improvement of in-patient diabetes care services”, he said adding that now people with mild to moderate complications, especially those having diabetic foot ulcers can be treated at home under the supervision of diabetologists and experts through telemedicine.
Addressing the concluding session of the conference, Secretary General of the Pakistan Diabetic Association Prof. dr. Abdul Basit said it is the right time that efforts are made to prevent diabetic foot ulcers in addition to training doctors, nurses and technicians in treating patients to reduce the rate of amputations across Pakistan.
“Our research and data has shown that amputation rate can be brought down drastically with education, training, modern interventions and use of latest medications. At our center, we have managed to bring down amputation rate from 27 to three percent while at 150 foot clinics established by us across Pakistan, amputations were reduced up to 50 percent”, Prof. Abdul Basit added.
Organizing secretary of the NADEP Foot Con 2020 Dr. Zahid Miyan spoke on the threats posed by the multi-drug resistant bacteria and pathogens in treatment of diabetic foot ulcers and added that the best strategy is to prevent occurrence of the diabetic foot ulcers in the patient with diabetes as prevention is the best strategy in poor countries like Pakistan.
“Infections with multi-drug resistant bacteria and diabetic foot ulcers can be a very lethal combination and this can jeopardize the lives of diabetics even after amputations. So that best strategy should be to focus on prevention from diabetic foot ulcers”, he added.
Another serious diabetologist Dr. Muhammad Saif-ul-Haq and a young orthopedic surgeon Dr. Shaheer Ali had debate on what should be the best course of treatment for the people with diabetic foot ulcers as Dr. Saif said 50 to 60 percent of the lower limbs of the patients could be saved with the help of antibiotics and other interventions.
The conference was also addressed by the Secretary General of NADEP Erum Ghafoor, Dr. Asher Fawwad, Dr. Khalid Abdul Basit. Dr. Riaz Memon, Dr. Zafar Abbassi, Ms Barbara Eichorst and several others.
Newsdesk