Govt considering free insulin for disadvantaged diabetes patients
The government is mulling distribution of free insulin to disadvantaged diabetes patients, who cannot survive without the drug on a regular basis.
“Destitute people who have type-1 diabetes should get insulin free of cost. We are considering how we can provide them with the drug,” Zahid Malik, state minister for health and family welfare, said yesterday at a press conference organised by the ministry on the occasion of World Diabetes Day [on November 14].
According to government data, 80 lakh to one crore people in the country have diabetes and almost 50 percent of them are undiagnosed. Also, 50,000 people die of diabetes every year.
The state minister said diabetes is a cause of a number of other diseases, including heart disease, brain stroke, kidney and eye damages.
“Diabetes also financially strains the patient. A person with diabetes spends six times higher on health than a non-diabetic person,” Zahid Malik said, adding that it is a loss and suffering for the individual, family as well as the country.
Prof AK Azad, president of Diabetic Association of Bangladesh, said insulin for patients of type-1 diabetes is a human right, and the government should provide it free of cost. Type-1 diabetes is caused mostly by genetic factors, he added.
He said 80 percent of diabetes is preventable given that people are physically active, consume less sugary and fatty foods and maintain healthy weight. This requires massive health awareness, he added.
Prof Enayet Hussain, additional director general at the Directorate General of Health Services, said the government has planned a partnership with the education ministry to introduce school health programmes to promote physical activities.
Health Ministry Additional Secretary Habibur Rahman Khan also spoke at the event.
Comments