Health Ministry prepares 4 national diabetes projects

The Health Ministry announced in a press conference on Monday that four new diabetes projects will be rolled out across the nation.

 

 

The first project includes launching campaigns in general hospitals throughout the governorates. There will also be a one-day conference for all diabetes doctors nationwide to discuss how to apply international diabetes treatment protocols, said professor Hesham Hefnawy, director of the National Diabetes Institute.

 

A committee of diabetes professors and doctors will be formed to establish the first Egyptian diabetes treatment protocol. The committee will study the treatment of acute and chronic complications of diabetes, as well as discuss early detection of diabetic foot and diabetic eye, Hefnawy added.

 

 

The second project will be held under the slogan "Control diabetes before it controls you", which includes visits to hospitals where patients and doctors will be instructed on how to deal with the disease. The project will be piloted in Qaliubiya, Beni Suef and Minya.

 

 

The third project has already been applied to most hospitals. It aims to detect those who may one day become diabetic by offering free blood tests, echocardiography and clinical neurology examinations. About 200,000 people have already had the tests done, according to Hefnawy.

 

Additonally, 26 diabetes treatment stations have been distributed to different governorates.

 

 

The fourth project deals with a safe way of fasting for diabetic patients.

 

Egypt has eight million people suffering from diabetes and ranks eighth on an international diabetes scale, President of the International Diabetes Association Professor Michael Hirst said in a statement Sunday.

 

The country is expected to rise in the new classification to the seventh rank, due to several factors, most notably Egyptians' unhealthy lifestyle, said Hirst, pointing out that he plans to visit Egypt later this year.

 

Statistics have shown that one person around the world dies every six seconds as a result of diabetes, and every three seconds a person is diagnosed with the disease, Hirst said. He expects that the number of people with diabetes will climb to 529 million people by 2035.