India Needs Better Diabetes Diagnostic and Treatment, Pronto

Filed in archive Challenges , Research , Treatment on October 16, 2007

Remember that India was recently named diabetes capital of the world? Because in India, there is a steadily increasing rates of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes that has become alarming for the rest of the world not to notice.




While the wonderful type 2 diabetes drug Byetta has recently been released in India, it isn't enough to battle type 2 diabetes in India.

According to a research conducted by University of Birmingham (UK), India needs to rapidly improve the diagnosis and treatment of diabetes.

India has the highest rate of diabetes in the world and Indians are particularly known to be at risk of developing the disease. Type 2 diabetes can cause complications such as eye disease, kidney disease, heart disease and stroke. These complications vary worldwide and in particular eye and kidney diseases are can be controlled by good diabetic treatment.

I guess this all boils down to change in diet and lifestyle choices that people of India should undertake on top of improved diagnosis and treatment that shouldn't just be available but must be accessible even by the poorest of poor.

Here in Asia (India not excluded, I think) medicines are often more expensive - thereby making them in-accessible to those who cannot afford to buy - which sucks big time.