The eighth annual Diabetes Health Mela at Talkatora drew thousands of people on Saturday. The three day program is aimed at making the masses aware about diabetes and its complications. It has been estimated that nearly two million people suffer from diabetes in Delhi and adjoining areas, and therefore a huge attendance was expected on Sunday.
The Delhi Diabetes Research Centre organized the mela which in addition to diabetes also focused on various health problems that were being faced by employees of information technology and call centre units. Several kinds of diabetes-related check-ups are being offered free of cost to the patients at the mela. People are being counseled by senior doctors on steps to living a healthy life, overcoming the disease as well as its many side effects.During the inauguration of the mela, A. K. Jhingan Delhi Diabetes Research Centre president said that although the "Prevent Obesity Prevent Diabetes" campaign had been launched a couple of years ago, the problem of obesity and diabetes in children are being tackled now.
According to Dr. Jhingan there are 33 million people afflicted with diabetes in India and the numbers are steadily increasing. Statistics show that a continued increase at this rate could result in over 75 million people with diabetes by 2025 in India.
He said, "The rising levels of obesity are likely to drive the prevalence of diabetes even higher than the present forecasts which do not take into account changes in obesity epidemic."
Source-Medindia
NLA
