Care scheme for juvenile diabetics

Health and Social Justice Minister K.K. Shylaja said that the government’s Mithai (sweet) programme would provide comprehensive care to juvenile diabetics, afflicted by Type 1 disease, in the State.

The programme is being initiated under the aegis of the Kerala Social Security Mission and involves setting up diabetes centres in Thiruvananthapuram, Alappuzha, and Kozhikode medical colleges and distribution of glucometers and insulin pumps. Hundred and fifty children who register first at these medical colleges will be listed for free diabetes care.

The number will be doubled later, the Minister said here on Thursday.

The diabetics care centres in the medical colleges would have an M.Sc. nurse and a dietician each to provide care for the children. Parents would be trained to care for the children afflicted by juvenile diabetics, the Minister added.

Type 1 diabetes is found mostly in children aged between 1 and 15 years. The disease is more complicated in children than in adults.

Incidence of fever

The high number of fever cases this year was expected, said the Minister at a press conference here. A surge in fever cases was expected every three years because of the mutations in the vectors and viruses.

The number of cases of fever had been high in places where pre-monsoon cleaning had not been carried out, the Minister added.