Medication alone is not enough to contain or prevent diabetes. It needs changes in life styles and regular exercises. And patient education plays a vital role in fighting chronic diseases like diabetes. This was stated by Dr Stephen Colagiuri, Chairman, Department of Endocrinology, Prince Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.
Speaking at a press conference organised by Dr Reddy's Foundation for Health Education (DRFHE), in Hyderabad on Thursday, Dr Colagiuri and his wife Ruth said the basic requirement in a country like India, where 12% of the population were victims of diabetes, was to have awareness programmes that aimed at teaching the public all about the dreaded disease. There were about 25 million diabetes patients in India. This number would double during the next 15 years if preventive measures were not initiated with immediate effect. Proper medication along with education would certainly prevent the spread of the disease, they said.
Genetic factor was one of the major causes for the disease, with 50% of the patients having relatives suffering from the same disease. Unless the disease was not prevented, there was every possibility of transmitting the disease to the future generations through the genes.
If diabetes were not controlled, it would lead to heart diseases, blindness and kidney failures. Proper education and awareness of the causes and consequences of diabetes would go a long way in controlling its spread and reducing its fatal side effects.
Both Dr Colagiuri and Ms Colagiuri were in Hyderabad for a training course for the students pursuing post-graduate diploma in healthcare management at Dr Reddy's Foundation for Health Education. They said medical advice and health education were equally important for the proper treatment of any serious disease. Explaining the importance of health education in diabetes, Dr Colagiuri said, "Diabetics are their own doctors, lab technicians, and nurses." Quoting from an American study, he said, in the normal course a diabetic had to think and worry about his or her condition every 15 minutes. Along with the medicine, the diet must also be under strict control for diabetes patients.
Qualified health or patient educators in countries like Australia have made treatment for diabetes more economical and less complicated by early screening of patients, proper counseling and reducing risk factors in patients by bringing about lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, health education was not a part of the agenda of diabetes in most countries, including India, the Australian specialists said.
The objective of Dr Reddy's Foundation for Health Education was to train and groom students to become qualified patient educators through a one-year Post-Graduate Diploma in Healthcare Management (PGDHM), the first of its kind multi-disciplinary programme in India.
The first batch of 90 students, currently enrolled for PGDHM will be known as professional Patients Educators who will be teaming up with doctors as a part of the healthcare team and provide holistic healthcare solutions through enlightening the patients about their disease condition and counseling them to help take informal decisions about their health, especially in chronic illnesses like diabetes, coronary artery diseases and osteoporosis. Thus they will complement the physicians' efforts for patient well-being and achieve the Foundation's motto of 'Better Health Through Better Understanding'.
In its endeavour to make DRFHE a benchmark in patient education, the Foundation had taken steps to ensure that the students were not only exposed to the latest teaching methodologies, but also the best faculty in the field of patient education. To this end, The Foundation had invited Dr Colagiuri and his wife from Australia as speakers for the current seminar. The Foundation would arrange many more such interactive sessions with world renowned faculty from within the country and abroad to train and groom the students and make them competent to take on the challenge of patient education in this country.