Diabetes fast attaining status of mass killer

A medical expert, Dr Sule Bathner, says diabetes is fast taking the position of mass killer, with the ailment causing the death of one person in the world every seven seconds.
Barthner, a Consultant Endocrinologist with the Federal Medical Centre, Gombe, made the observation in Bauchi on Saturday while delivering a lecture organised by the Bauchi chapter of Diabetes Association of Nigeria (DAN) to mark the World Diabetes Day.
“In 2015, statistics have shown that one person dies in every seven seconds as a result of diabetes ailment worldwide.
“There is therefore, need for mass education as the situation has become a global challenge,” he said.
According to him, the ailment is also responsible for no fewer than one million amputations of human parts globally, just as 46.5 per cent of adults with diabetes are undiagnosed.
He, therefore, advised people to seek for information on diabetes, adding that scaling up public awareness on its management is imperative.
He also called on people with the ailment to take advantage of the National Health Insurance Scheme by enrolling in the scheme to eliminate the challenges of high cost of drugs.
In his remark, the National President of DAN. Dr Mohammed Alkali, said that the Federal Ministry of Health had directed that, henceforth, all health facilities should conduct diabetes test on any patients that presented any case to ensure that people knew their diabetes status.
Alkali, who is also the Chief Medical Director of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU-TH) Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, said that an insulin injection had been discovered for children and would be in use soon.