By Correspondent in Lokoja.
As diabetes continues to register many deaths in Nigeria,a medical practitioner, Dr. Adewole Adesanya, has called on the three tiers of government to ensure people had access to oral drugs and insulin for the treatment of diabetes.
He made the call on Wednesday at a programme organised by the management of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Lokoja, as part of the activities to mark the World Diabetes Day 2021.
Adesanya, who delivered a lecture on ”Prevention, Care and Management of Diabetes”, said over 500 million people worldwide were presently living with diabetes.
Adesanya, who is the Head of Endocrinology Unit in the Department of Internal Medicine of the hospital, said that insulin being the major medication for the disease at the early period was discovered about 100 years ago.
According to him, the World Diabetes Day is an annual ritual of advocacy on diabetes marked on Nov. 14, worldwide.
”It is also a gathering targeted at celebrating ourselves as human beings for good health and provision of opportunity to educate ourselves about challenges of diabetes and how to manage it.
“At the age of 40, every human being is prone to become victims of diabetes.
”It is therefore very important for people within the age of 40 and above to embark on routine check of their blood sugar levels,” he said.
The expert, therefore, appealed to governments and well meaning individuals to support citizens to access insulin and oral drugs without hinderance.
Also speaking, Mrs. Rachel Idakwoji, a Dietician, said the right diet and physical exercise would help people from falling prey of diabetes and other health hazards.
“We are what we eat as mortals and should seriously care much for what we eat and drink to prolong our life span,” she said.
In his remarks, the Medical Director FMC Lokoja, Dr. Olatunde Alabi, said diabetes was never a death sentence, saying ”anybody could be a victim if he or she is not careful with what they eat and drink.”
He urged victims to avail themselves of the opportunity of the advocacy on how to prevent and manage the disease.
The online publication reports that the FMC Lokoja conducted free screening of over 100 persons to ascertain their sugar level.
The theme for this year’s World Diabetes Day is: “Access To Diabetes Care; If Not Now, When?”
Elsewhere in Nigeria where the event was marked,health experts called on people to engage in physical exercises such as taking 10,000 steps daily to prevent diabetes.
Edited by Dada Ahmed
