Diabetes among tuberculosis patients has become a cause for concern. Evidence suggests that frequency of tuberculosis occurrence in patients with diabetes was 3-4 times more than that of non-diabetic subjects, managing director of M V Hospital for Diabetes & Diabetes Research Centre Dr Vijay Viswanathan has said.

He said that it is imperative to screen every patient with tuberculosis for the presence of diabetes and thereby target primary prevention of diabetes amongst them.

‘We have realised that the medical community which is responsible for the prevention and control of tuberculosis in our country needs more support in understanding and detecting early signs of diabetes, and this initiative of ours will surely help in spreading and also educating the medical community to prevent and control diabetes in patients with tuberculosis,’ he added.

Vijay Viswanathan said this at the launch of the Diabetes Research Centre-World Diabetes Foundation (DRC-WDF) project on the prevention of diabetes among tuberculosis patients - educating and training in prevention of diabetes for tuberculosis health personnel.

  Speaking on the occasion, State principal secretary for Health and Family Welfare V K Subburaj that there was need for greater awareness among patients and medical fraternity for more 25 per cent cases prevail in India.  
Burden of diabetes was also over 20-25 per cent, the secretary said.

Under the Government’s Varummun Kaapom Scheme, out of 90 lakh persons screened, 3.5 lakh were found to be diabetic.

Diabetes is the mother of diseases as it affects all the organs and should be given comprehensive treatment. In Tamilnadu, all the public health centres (PHCs) were well equipped to diagnose diabetes, Subburaj said.

MV Hospital and World Diabetes Foundation, Denmark, has  taken initiative in educating doctors, lab technicians and paramedical staff in primary prevention of diabetes among tuberculosis patients.

Earlier, Dean of Diabetes Research Centre Dr S N Narasingan welcomed the gathering. World Diabetes Foundation managing director Dr Anil Kumar also spoke.