A floating laboratory has been launched in the water-logged Kuttanad, albeit on a short-term basis, to identify diabetes-prone people and existing patients who might not be aware of the disease.
The laboratory, set up on a boat, is a continuation of the diabetes awareness boat campaign that was conducted by the Central public sector unit Hindustan Latex Limited (HLL) Lifecare on August 13. Part of the Star Sugar Testing and Review project of HLL Lifecare, the boat will also distribute awareness pamphlets on diabetes and other lifestyle-related diseases wherever it goes.
According to an HLL release here, the boat will focus on testing glucose levels in the blood, for which trained hands and equipment have been arranged on the boat. The testing will be of free of cost. The boat, apart from travelling through the interior regions of Kuttanad, will also have halts at Kainakary, Kuppapuram, Kavalam and Kuttamangalam, all areas where residents do not have onshore laboratory facilities.
The Star boat project, which was flagged off by Union Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal on August 13 during the Nehru Trophy Boat Race, had tested about 4,000 people free of cost that day, the release added.
