Free diabetes screening for pregnant women in 36 UP districts

Free of cost diabetes screening will be conducted in as many as 36 districts of the state as a part of routine-check up of pregnant women.

From December to February, the health department had run diabetes screening in 18 districts of the state under the Village Health and Nutrition Day (VHND), a scheme where pregnant women are screened by the ASHA workers for basic health indicators.

Now, the screening test will be held in 36 districts. “We screened 1.20 lakh pregnant women in past three months and found 2% of them to be as diabetic. Thus, the programme is being extended to more districts,” said Swapna Das, general manager (maternal health) National Health Mission, Uttar Pradesh.

She said that UP was first state to have so many districts facilitating diabetes screening for pregnant women.

“The scheme is there in several states but just four of five districts are covered under it,” she said while talking to media on the sidelines of a training programme for doctors held in Lucknow on Thursday.

Dr Uma Singh, an expert in the programmme, said that ideally pregnant women should get blood sugar tested in the initial phase of the pregnancy itself.

If the result is negative, the test may again be conducted during the 24-28 week of pregnancy. However, if the result is over positive i.e., over 140, diet advise is given to control blood sugar. And if the result is 200 or above, medication is provided.

She added that the test was simple. The woman is made to drink 75-gms of glucose and then a blood test is conducted.

“We hope the programme reaches every pregnant woman in state as it will help reduce the complications for mother and child which is caused due to diabetes during pregnancy,” said Dr Singh.