GUWAHATI: An enlightening talk on “How to live happily with diabetes” was held in the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya(USTM) conference hall on Wednesday which was attended by all the faculty members and other staff of the University.
The talk was delivered by Dr Manash P Baruah, an acclaimed specialist who is a Director and Consultant Endocrinologist of Excelcare Hospital, Guwahati. The talk was followed by a stimulating interactive session with the participants, according to a USTM communique
Addressing the participants, Dr Baruah said that diabetes is a lifestyle disease and it is mostly prevalent in the age group of 50-59. He said that diabetes is increasing year by year mostly in urban areas and according to a study, in India it has increased from 5 per cent in 1940 to 30 percent in 2000 and will be 46 per cent increase in 2030 in urban areas. Since 1995, India toped the number of diabetic patients amounting to 1.95 crore and the number will only increase in 2025 being estimated at 6 crore, to be followed by China with 3.76 crore. “Lifestyle disease is also called disease of longevity or disease of civilization. Regular aerobic exercise is the best medicine to combat diabetes”, he added.
In his talk, Dr Baruah pointed out the top seven risk factors for type two diabetes—obesity, sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy eating habits, family history and genetics, increased age (65+), high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He also explained the two types of diabetes—the type one happens often during childhood and type two or adult onset diabetes happens usually after 30 years of age. Complications of diabetes could be stroke, eye damage, heart attack, kidney damage, impotence, difficulty passing urine, numbness and reduced blood supply to foot. The control is in our hands—it is mainly diet, exercise and foot care, he said.
Earlier, welcoming Dr Baruah, M Hoque, Chancellor, USTM said that the University gives much emphasis on research work and research on diabetes can form an important part of academic research.