Regular health check-ups after 40 a must: Experts

Regular health check-ups after a certain age is a must for preventing, detecting and controlling diabetes, experts have said.

People above 40 years of age should do the check-up, which is now much available and affordable, at least once a year while overweight people should start the regular check-up after reaching 35, they said at a press conference at a hotel in the capital on Friday.

Besides, people should maintain healthy lifestyles like having a balanced diet and doing regular physical exercises to prevent and control diabetes as the disease is incurable, they added.

Novo Nordisk, a Denmark-based multinational pharmaceutical company, and Diabetic Association of Bangladesh (DAB) jointly organised the press conference marking World Diabetes Day 2017, to be observed on Tuesday.

Novo Nordisk in association with key stakeholders will organise 150 rallies across the country on WDD, screen more than 15,000 pregnant women and share knowledge with 5,000 healthcare professionals including 2,000 gynaecologists on the risk of diabetes and modern treatment options.

DAB President Prof AK Azad Khan said genetic factors which cause diabetes cannot be controlled, but lifestyle, which is another major risk factor, can be changed.

These common recommendations should be frequently repeated and spread through the media to keep people well informed and thereby make them ready to fight the disease, he added.

Urging doctors to learn more about the disease, Danish Ambassador to Bangladesh Mikael Hemniti Winther said Bangladeshi people need to focus on their diet and thereby change their food habit.

Novo Nordisk Bangladesh Managing Director Anand Shetty and Padma Textiles Ltd Chief Financial Officer C Sundara Pandian spoke, among others, on the occasion.