KARACHI: A ‘flood of premature deaths’ and ‘disabilities among young people’ can paralyze all spheres of life in Pakistan if immediate steps are not taken by the federal and provincial governments for the prevention of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including diabetes, leading health experts warned on Friday.
Urging the authorities to come up with an initiative like National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) to deal with NCDs especially diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney disease and cancers among others.
Experts including endocrinologists and cardiologists said that diabetes alone was killing hundreds of thousands of people in addition to making hundreds of thousands disabled and blind annually in Pakistan, adding that collaborative efforts could help in controlling the epidemic of NCDs like Covid-19 in Pakistan.
“With around 33 million diabetics and millions more living with hypertension, cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease and cancers, it is feared that a flood of deaths and disabilities would paralyze all spheres of life in Pakistan if immediate steps are not taken by the authorities in collaboration with all the stakeholders including physicians and public health experts,” Prof Dr Ibrar Ahmed, President of Pakistan Endocrine Society (PES) told the inaugural ceremony of 19th Annual Conference of the society here at a local hotel in Islamabad.
Leading endocrinologists, cardiologists and medical experts from different cities of Pakistan as well as European and Middle Eastern countries have been invited in person or to share their thoughts virtually at the 19th Annual PES Conference 2021 and to suggest solutions to health issues facing the country, especially in the area of NCDs in general and endocrinology in particular.
On the occasion, the official website of Pakistan Diabetes Prevention Program (PDPP) was also launched while organizers said they were going to hold many agreements with stakeholders and medical health institutions to create awareness, conduct research and train the physicians in dealing with NCDs in Pakistan.
The PES President maintained that physicians with the financial and technological support from the local pharmaceutical companies was trying to train young doctors, and create awareness among masses but they had managed to reach only a few hundred thousand people and added that if federal and provincial governments did not take the ‘tsunami of diabetes and other NCDs’ seriously, nothing would be left in the country.
“Now we want the federal and provincial governments to take the NCDs as serious as they are paying attention towards immunization and infectious diseases.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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