Doctors warn against late reporting of diabetes

PANAJI: Doctors at Goa Medical College (GMC) and hospital are concerned over the number of patients seeking help for diabetes at a very late stage of the disease, when dialysis is imminent.


They say that the hospital sees around five-to-eight cases a month of diabetes patients who require to immediately be put on dialysis to control their blood glucose level.

It is estimated that there are around 800-1,000 patients on dialysis across the state. This tendency to seek help late is a countrywide phenomenon, says head of GMC’s nephrology department, Dr J P Tiwari, and Goa is no exception. This late reporting, he said, “is largely due to the ignorance of people”.

While diabetes is prevalent among all sections of society, it has been observed that poorer patients generally access treatment much later, ostensibly owing to their financial condition.

Consultant nephrologist, Dr Shital Lengade, says that it’s a matter of concern that people seek medical help way too late. He said that early detection not only helps better management, but also in some cases, helps patients avoid dialysis completely.

Patients on dialysis are required to undergo the procedure thrice a week. In such a scenario, the only way out is a kidney transplant, and only the very lucky find a donor and fulfill the conditions that decide his eligibilty for renal transplant, thus avoiding lifelong reliance on dialysis.

He said some patients skip their dialysis routine, instead of undergoing it only once a week. “It’s not adequate,” he said. “Three dialyses a week are required for the management of blood glucose level.”

Dialysis, which is provided free-of-cost at GMC, district hospitals and at select primary health centres, costs around Rs 1,500 a session if done privately.

Lengade said even though the government bears the cost of dialysis, some people miss their sessions as they are unable to travel on their own and need assistance. “Some are unable to afford the cost of hiring a vehicle every time to reach hospital,” he said.

Tiwari said that though there is a growing awareness on diabetes, more efforts need to be undertaken to increase the level of understanding the disease.