Medical Mission Yields 1K Diabetic Patients

Jun Ariolo N. Aguirre

New Washington, Aklan- A medical mission in this Cardinal Jaime Sin’s town discovered 1,000 patients with symptom of diabetes that causes alarm to Filipino doctors who came and were based in the United States.

In an interview, Dr. Amante Legaspi an Aklanon working as anesthesiologist in Chesapeake General Hospital in Virginia USA and at the same time chairman of the board of Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation under the tutelage of Far Eastern University –Manila said that with their findings they believed there is more Aklanons province wide who is also diabetic that were not yet diagnosed.

At least 30 Filipino-Americans along with Legaspi comprises of physicians and nurses who came here for the three day medical mission was held last January 29-31 this year. The mission funded by Physicians for Peace in US is already in its fourth time in the province.

The said medical mission had helped diagnosed 3,000 patients excluding the diabetics provided with medicines and equipments for rural health unit and Dr. Rafael S. Tumbukon Memorial Hospital in Kalibo; provided 500 free reading glasses; done 85 surgeries, ten operating cases. The group also provided 500 food baskets to residents in Barangay Fatima, New Washington who were victims of recent typhoon incidents in Aklan.

The medical mission in this town was hosted by Mayor Edmund Peralta and his brother Atty. Edgar Peralta.

“For the diabetic patients, we advised them to go to their rural health physicians in the soonest possible time for follow-up check-ups. We believe, majority of them are positive for diabetic disease,” Legaspi said.

The findings of the doctors came as a surprised because they taught that they will only record hundredth cases in the medical mission.

“We decided to conduct check up on diabetic patients because the they know a lot of people here who is known to have such kind of disease. Because of the great number of those diagnosed, we encouraged Aklanons to consult their doctors to see if they are diabetic,” he said.

Diabetes (medically known as diabetes mellitus) is a chronic metabolic disorder characterized by elevated levels of blood glucose, or sugar. It occurs when your body produces little or no insulin (type 1 diabetes) or when your cells don’t respond appropriately to the insulin that your body produces (type 2 diabetes).

Type 2 Diabetes is the leading cause of adult blindness, kidney failure and nontraumatic limb loss in the country.

According to the health indicator statistics of the Department of Health (DOH), diabetes is the ninth leading cause of death in the Philippines, affecting 1 out of 25 Filipinos. The disease affects an estimated 3.36 million Filipinos today. In less than 20 years, that number is expected to rise to about 8 million.

Meanwhile, Dr. Rosa Allyn Sy, president of the Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (PSEM), said that in the 1997 Food and Nutrition Research Institute survey conducted by DOH, there are 2.8 million Filipinos who were diagnosed with diabetes. From 1993 to 1997, 2.1 percent of the deaths recorded are due to diabetes and annually the cases of diabetes continue to increase by 2.5 percent.

“Diabetes is a growing epidemic in the Philippines. But the last few years have seen many new advances in our understanding of diabetes and our ability to treat it effectively. Clearly the best way to prevent the serious health consequence of diabetes is to prevent it from occurring,” said Dr. Joven Tanchuco, medical director of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Philippines.

A recent GSK study called the DREAM trial (or Diabetes Reduction Approaches with ramipril and rosiglitazone Medications) for pre-diabetes patients showed the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes was reduced by 62 percent, relative to placebo among people at high risk of developing the said disease.