The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) will soon start screening hundreds of thousands of Dubai residents to find out if they are at high risk of developing diabetes.
Every patient visiting a primary health centre in the emirate will be given a questionnaire from September 15 that will help detect if they are at risk of acquiring the deadly disease.
There are 14 health centres across the emirate and each one is visited by thousands of patients every day.
If the patient gets a high score in the questionnaire, they will then have to undergo further diagnostic tests.
If the patient scores 22 then they have a high chance of developing diabetes.
The next step will be further screening via a blood test. The country loses a huge amount of money in treating diabetic patients and its serious complications.
“The UAE spends Dh5,900 per patient,” according to Dr Mohammad Farghali, Director, Health Affairs, DHA.
“The disease is preventable if detected early,” said the doctor. “Diabetes is affecting the young today,” said Dr Babu Shersad, internal medicine specialist at First Medical Centre.
“We have become modern cavemen sitting in our offices and going to the malls,” he said.
The UAE ranks among the top ten countries which has a huge diabetic population of 18.7 per cent. “A similar per cent [18.7 per cent] of the population is pre-diabetic,” said Dr Fraghali.
“Pre-diabetic means that it is highly likely you will become diabetic in the future.”
Lifestyle changes
According to Dr Shersad the course of the disease is reversible if lifestyle changes are made by following a healthy and nutritious diet and daily exercise.
Diabetes occurs slowly in the body and initially there are no symptoms, so that is why there is an urgent need to make people aware of this lifestyle disease, say doctors.
“The complication of this disease affects every organ of the body,” said Dr Shersad. It affects the eyes and down to the feet and can cause heart attacks and strokes if left untreated.
“The biggest challenge is changing people’s bad lifestyle habits,” the doctor said.
“The problem is that a person who was active in his youth has now suddenly turned sedentary. Most everyone here drinks sweet fizzy drinks and eats junk food. Everything revolves around food, whether at work or in your social life,” said the specialist.
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