Experts discuss multi-pronged module for diabetic awareness and care

An expert panel of diabetologists has authored a report showing why diabetes management becomes arduous, including lack of disease awareness among the community, poor access to quality care, scarcity of trained staff, monitoring facilities and the unavailability of anti-diabetic drugs.

Published in Heliyon and titled 'Healthcare delivery model in India with relevance to diabetes care', the experts proposed a white paper model to resolve major challenges faced by the Indian diabetes care sector for effective therapies.

The expert author panel included Dr Ashok Kumar Das, Dr Banshi Saboo, Dr Anuj Maheshwari, Dr Mohanan Nair V, Dr Samar Banerjee, Dr Jayakumar C, Dr Benny P. V, Dr Sunil Prasobh P, Dr Anjana Ranjit Mohan, Dr Vasudevan Sambu Potty and Dr Jothydev Kesavadev.

Government initiatives are essentially required to deliver quality care to the maximum number of people with diabetes.

The quality crisis of the Indian healthcare sector is well recognised.

The required public health facilities in India count to about 74,150 health centres per million population, but the existing number comes to only half of the original requirement.

The following are some of the findings and suggestions by the authors.

Public-private partnerships can improve access to healthcare, especially in remote areas.