Check your sugar levels: ‘More than 3.5m people don’t even know they are diabetic’

Prof Basit says situation is alarming as no precautionary measures are being taken.

KARACHI: There are around seven million people with diabetes in Pakistan and half of them don't even know they suffer from this condition, said Prof Abdul Basit, the director of the Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology at Baqai Medical University.

He added that another seven million people were close to being diagnosed with the disease in the near future. The situation, he said, is alarming as no precautionary measures are being taken. Prof Basit was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the Sardar Yasin Malik Diabetes Centre at the Indus Hospital on Wednesday.



He said that patients at the diabetes centre will be treated free of charge as the centre was being financially supported by businessman and social activist, Sardar Yasin Malik, after whom the centre has been named.

"I wish every hospital in this country would set up a separate centre for diabetics. A place where all patients can be tested for diabetes," said Sardar Malik. "This way, at least they'll reduce their sugar intake."

He reiterated what Prof Basit said about diabetes being a silent killer and said it is something people should get tested for to catch it in its early stages.

According to Malik, family members on his mother's side were diabetic and she passed away when he was three because they did not know better at the time.

Muhammad Siddique Sheikh, a businessman and board member of the hospital said they were planning on constructing a separate block for diabetics at the hospital in the future. He added that Pakistan had the potential to compete with other countries in all fields, including the health sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 17^th, 2014.