Sunday October 14, 2012

High percentage of diabetics reaches worrying state

KUCHING: The number of diabetes patients in the state has reached a worrying trend with 12% to 15% of them in urban centres.

Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) director Dr Abdul Rahim Abdullah believed that the number could reach up to 25% by 2020.

“However, the percentage of diabetics patients recorded in the outskirts is only between 3% and 5%. Based on the Health Ministry’s statistics last year, there were more than three million diabetics in the whole country.

“This figure showed a two-fold increase against 2006 when there were only 1.5 million patients,” he said when launching the “Diabetes Awareness and Interventional Radiology Approach in Tackling Diabetes Complication” campaign here yesterday.

His text of speech was read out by Dr Chin Zin Hing.

What was more worrying, he pointed out, was that a lot of people did not realise that they were suffering from the disease.

“This can be avoided by having structured health efforts.

“Diabetes is a ‘silent’ disease in that it does not show any early symptom until seven to 10 years, which by then it would result in heart attack, stroke, kidney failure and blurred vision,” he added.

There are 1,900 patients suffering from end-stage kidney failure. Out of this figure, 1,648 need to undergo haemodialysis treatment in public hospitals.

“Diabetes is a chronic disease and currently there is no medicinal cure for it. But we can avoid it by practising good diet and exercise,” Dr Abdul Rahim said.

Public Health Assistant Minister Dr Jerip Susil said it was the responsibility of everyone to maintain healthy living.

He added that although the Government had provided health facilities, it was up to individuals to check their own health and well-being.

“This is because we should not leave our own health solely to healthcare providers. We have the responsibility to do so ourselves,” he said.

News

Sunday October 14, 2012

High percentage of diabetics reaches worrying state