BEL Celebrates World Health Day Focus on Diabetes Prevention and Care

Navratna Defence PSU Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) celebrated World Health Day on April 20, 2016. To mark the occasion, the BEL Hospital arranged a health awareness programme, featuring talks by eminent doctors of Bangalore city on the theme, ‘Halt The Rise – Beat Diabetes’, at Rashtrakavi Kuvempu Kalakshetra, Jalahalli, Bangalore. Mr. M L Shanmukh, Director (HR), BEL, and Mr. P R Acharya, Director (Finance), BEL, were the chief guests. Mr. Veeresh D Bevinamarad, GM (HR) / BEL-Bengaluru, presided over the function.

Dr. Rajeshwari Janakiraman, Endocrinologist, Columbia Asia Hospital, Bengaluru, and Dr. Girish, Nephrologist, M S Ramaiah Memorial Hospital, Bengaluru, were the distinguished speakers on the occasion. Dr. K T Sujay, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, BEL Hospital, gave the welcome address. Dr. Laxmi Ananth, Chief Medical Officer, BEL Hospital, introduced the theme to the audience. Dr. Rajeshwari Janakiraman gave a lecture on the topic, ‘Diabetes and its Prevention’. Dr. Girish spoke on ‘Care of Kidneys in Diabetics’.

Dr. Rajeshwari Janakiraman observed that cases of diabetes were fast increasing these days across all age groups. The trend was more noticeable in rural areas. Even children are becoming prone to the disease. Diabetes is a silent killer as it can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart attack, stroke and lower limb amputation. Acute diabetes can result in dehydration, frequent infection or electrolyte imbalance. As per statistics, it has the potential to become the 7^th leading cause of deaths by 2030, she said. Explaining the parameters of detecting diabetes mellitus, Dr. Rajeshwari Janakiraman said that if the fasting sugar is >126 and postprandial blood sugar (2 hours after meal) is >200, a person is said to be diabetic. If the random blood sugar is >200 it would be a case of symptomatic diabetic.

Ways to prevent diabetes include avoiding tobacco and alcohol, following a healthy diet and engaging in regular physical activity. One should include lot of fibrous food like vegetables and fruits in one’s diet. The intake of white sugar should be limited and iodised salt should only be consumed. A platter of food should contain 25% starch, 25% protein and 50% fiber. How the food is cooked is equally important. The usage of oil should be limited to 0.5 kg per month, per person. Walking 30 minutes daily at a moderate speed (5 kmph) at least 5 days a week or 150 minutes per week reduce the LDL (bad cholesterol) and improve HDL (good cholesterol). A diabetic person should get a medical check-up done every four months and start treatment at the earliest lest the disease worsens. Urine, feet and eyes should be checked regularly.

There is no general medication for diabetes. Each patient needs specific treatment and medication. The lectures were followed by an interaction session. Dr. B S Jayashree, Assistant Chief Medical Officer, proposed the vote of thanks.