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Diabetics go the distance

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM July 4. On an evening when the customary tea served was sugar-free, a group of diabetic patients sought expert opinion, lifestyle modification suggestions and answers to routine queries from a panel of endocrinologists located at the U.S.-based Mayo Clinic through a video-conferencing hook-up.

The 'Global Diabetes Online 2003', an Indo-US health education programme, got up at the Press Club Hall on Friday, is said to be the first time in the country that Internet technology is being harnessed to facilitate cross-continental interaction between a group of patients and expert clinicians.

The venture has been launched at a time when an estimated 2.50 crore diabetics of the global diabetic population of 15 crores are in India. The country is being eyed as a prized market by insulin manufacturers.

Formally inaugurating the programme, the Health Minister, P. Sankaran, said the Government had already begun exploring the potential of telemedicine. Already, an ISRO-supported telemedicine project was under way in Pathanamthitta. It was proposed to expand the telemedicine link-up to all district hospitals in the next three to four years, the Minister said.

B. Ekbal, Vice-Chancellor of Kerala University, pointed out that the cross-continental conferencing held high potential. Already, the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC) has launched telemedicine facilities at nodal Internet cafes such as the one in Ernakulam from where patients who had already undergone treatment could get a review done through tele-consultation.

Experts at the U.S. end included Laura Greenland and Yogesh Kudva, Mayo Clinic endocrinologists, and Laura Octel, pharmacist in charge of patient education, Steven Smith, member, director board, American Diabetics Association, and Jothy Dev, programme coordinator, US-Indian Institute of Diabetes.

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