M.V. Hospital for Diabetes, Royapuram, has launched a scholarship programme for higher education to under privileged diabetic children, and ‘Young Warriors Against Diabetes’ programme in Chennai.
The scholarship programme was launched by Minister of Tourism, Government of Tamil Nadu, S. Gokula Indira. It was part of Changing Diabetes in Children (CDC) programme, started in 2011, to render comprehensive care to under privileged children diagnosed with diabetes.
Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Vijay Vishwanathan, Managing Director, M.V. Hospital for Diabetes, said, “We collaborated with Novo Nordisk, a healthcare company, to take care of 300 underprivileged children with diabetes as part of the CDC programme. We are conducting this programme for more than a year. We propose to move one step ahead, and provide scholarship for underprivileged children for higher education. We will be providing a scholarship of Rs. 10,000 each to three students. We plan to cover more than 50 beneficiaries in the next three to four years,” he added.
“Around 60 million people are affected with Type 2 diabetes in India, twice of Australia’s population. More than 90,000 children are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Every fifth child with diabetes is an Indian. Our vision is to provide comprehensive diabetes care to more than 4,000 economically underprivileged children with diabetes in India. We focus on the challenges of managing diabetes in children and illustrate how this global problem can be managed,” he pointed out.
S. Gokula Indira said, “On a global scale, the International Diabetes Foundation estimated that there are a total of 480,000 children living with Type 1 diabetes – 250,000 of whom live in developing countries. In developing countries the mortality rate for children with diabetes is critical.”
When a child is diagnosed with diabetes, it can be an immense burden for a family. The cost of diabetes care is very expensive, and families choose the choice between food and lifesaving medicine, she added.
Young Warriors Against Diabetes
Mari Ruddy, Director and Founder, Team We Inspire Life with Diabetes (WILD), launched the ‘Young Warriors Against Diabetes’ programme. Under the programme, monthly meetings will be conducted with parents of children below the age of 20 with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. This will be done to dispel myths and apprehensions surrounding the management of diabetes.
Children, covered under the programme, will get 30 per cent concession on every visit to Out Patients Department (OPD). They will also be given a free check up once in a year.
