Nurses’ education,training on diabetes stressed

Every fourth person is diabetic due to having fast food in excess, less physical exercise, avoiding proper medical checkup and lack of information about the disease and such patients cannot be looked after without proper specialist nurse.

Moreover, diabetics should more focus on precautionary measures.

These views were expressed by Principal Post Graduate Medical Institute Prof Dr Sardar Muhammad Alfareed Zafar while addressing “Hands On Diabetes Nurse Education” workshop held here in Lahore General Hospital in which nurses participated in a large number while Prof Dr Tahir Siddique, Dr Imran Hassan Khan, Dr Salman Shakeel and Dr Rana Asif Sagheer addressed the workshop and apprised the participants of the symptoms and complications of diabetes, preventive measures and importance and process of insulin in detail.

Dr Alfareed Zafar said Pakistan Nursing Council should focus on specialisation. He said that diabetes is fast increasing disease while nurses’ ratio is very less in this particular sector and we should take steps on priority basis to resolve this issue. Principal PGMI said that diploma should be issued for Diabetes Specialist and it should also be included in syllabus so that this disease could be controlled in the beginning.

Prof Alfareed said that health sector was the government’s priority and with the efforts of Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid, process of recruitment of 5,000 nurses had already been started which would not only provide livelihood to 5,000 families but also provide better health facilities to the patients.

Talking to media, Principal LGH told that as per an estimate presently 420 million people all over the world are diabetic and only in Pakistan 1.5 to 200,000 people have become disabled due to this disease. As per World Health Organisation’s statistics, due to the complications of diabetes heart attack, paralysis, blindness, kidney failures and harm on legs and feet occur so it is the need of the hour that people belonging to the medical field should play their role in creating awareness and civil society should also come forward in this regard.