Deyalsingh: Patients must act to curb diabetes

HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on Monday urged people to work with the public health service to curb TT's high rates of diabetes, addressing the budget debate in the House of Representatives.

He said programmes screen pregnant women for diabetes, to boost their and their babies' health.

Deyalsingh boasted of his ministry's efforts to raise the breastfeeding rates of newborn babies from ten per cent in 2021 to 95 per cent now.

"Make sure your children have a fighting chance at not becoming diabetic or obese, by making healthy choices for them – what they drink, how they consume and how they move." He said under the Government, the maternal mortality rate has fallen from 70,000 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births to 15.2/100,000 now.

Deyalsingh noted a retrospective study for the period 2019-2023 on diabetic amputations.

"In that time, men and women of TT lost 1,776 limbs and/or toes to amputations."

He said 91 per cent of amputees had complications of diabetes and 18 per cent were smokers.

"The average age for major lower-limb amputations was 63, with a predominance of males, 61 per cent." He said Africans and East Indians had no major differences.

Deyalsingh lamented one-third of these amputations were on patients 41-60 years old.

"Forty-one to 60 is when people are in the prime of their life. One third of 1,700 amputations are in that age group. They can't play football with their children again."

He said a programme at Mt Hope seeks to inculcate healthy habits in young adults.

Deyalsingh lamented that 60 per cent of amputees had come to hospital as walk-in patients. That is, they waited at home, trying herbal remedies and bush remedy and then it doesn't work, they walk into a hospital, it's too far gone and they lose a limb."

He urged everyone to use public hospitals/clinics to treat their diabetic foot ulcers.

"Our goal is to reduce to the rate of amputations by about 20 per cent in two-three years."

Deyalsingh said his ministry had set up diabetes wellness centres to try to inculcate healthy habits.

"Slow down on drinking the black sweet drink, nah. That is poison! Slow down on all the fast foods; Have it occasionally.

"Invest in some more water. And walk a little bit. Three simple, habit-changing remedies."

He said the diabetes clinics try to help patients reduce their blood-sugar level over six months, giving large-scale measurable results entailing data-driven analytics.

Deyalsingh said hypertension was a major killer, urging people to curb their salt intake and start to exercise.

"Come into our clinics, go to your private provider – but just get your pressure consistently below 140/90.

"That will reduce the amount of strokes we have in TT."

Deyalsingh promised a $30 million catheterisation lab at San Fernando General Hospital, helped by the Austrian Government.

Saying diabetes kills nerves and reduces foot sensitivity, he urged diabetics to wear footwear outside and have relatives daily check their soles for wounds, so as to avoid injuries that can fester and require amputations.

"It starts with one toe, then goes to a second toe, then it goes to a third toe, then it goes to your foot, then it goes to below your knee, then it goes to above your knee.

"We want to avoid that. If we work together and we are sensitised to diabetic foot care, we can make a difference."

He said hospitals/clinics can detect damage in foot nerves, do eye-screening and offer "prescriptions" to do exercise.

"Just get people moving. It could be simple things – walking around your house, cobwebbing, stretching, mopping, sweeping, washing the car – but just get moving."

Deyalsingh said a youth chat line run by graduate students and supported by UNICEF will address mental illness in youngsters.

He hoped Port of Spain General Hospital would become the region's premier teaching hospital, entailing scholarship, enhanced health care and world-class training for doctors, nurses and pharmacists. Deyalsingh urged young professionals to embrace fresh opportunities for training this upgrade would bring, such as paediatric cardiologists or specialist nurses to treat asthmatic children.