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Indian population predisposed to diabetes, heart conditions – Medical expert
“I think diabetes is an epidemic in Guyana right now. It is literally of epidemic proportion,” declared, Dr. Madhu Singh, the Medical Director at the privately operated Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital.
Dr. Madhu Singh
The disease, according to her, is one that is particularly targeting persons of East Indian descent. But as if this was not a bad enough development, Dr. Singh disclosed that the East Indian population here is also the greater suffers of coronary artery disease.
This, she said, is linked to the fact that the arteries of East Indian people are particularly small. “Ninety per cent of the patients that we see with heart disease are Indians because we have small arteries and we also have more diabetes. So it is a double whammy for us,” informed Dr. Singh.
Although she has been a medical professional for many years she only learned of East Indians predisposal to diabetes and coronary artery disease, recently.
Based on published reports, coronary artery disease is currently the leading cause of death worldwide and together with diabetes, poses a serious health threat, particularly in the Indian-Asian population.
But risk factor management has evolved considerably with the continued emergence of new and thought-provoking evidence, it has been revealed. However, it has been found that the stream of laboratory and population-based research findings as well as unresolved controversies may pose dilemmas and conflicting impulses in most clinicians, and even in well-informed patients.
Dr. Singh, moreover, said, “We (East Indians) have long standing diabetes and long standing hypertension…all the risk factors for heart disease.”
She pointed out that diabetes has the potential of having a very damaging change to an individual’s cholesterol profile. “Your cholesterol profile will be very bad if you have diabetes. It is something called metabolic syndrome that is associated with diabetes…bad cholesterol, high risk of heart disease, hypertension are all associated with diabetes,” related Dr. Singh.
But addressing this could be as simple as improving your diet, according to the Medical Director. She noted that deliberate efforts are made to raise awareness among patients.
“We give lots of dietary advice. All of our nurses are trained to give diabetics advice,” said Dr. Singh.
Patients, according to her, are urged to be screened for diabetes as this could help to guard against developing cardiac conditions. “A lot of people have diabetes and they are running around thinking their sugars are fine.”
The diabetes condition she informed is compounded by the use of soft drinks. She emphasised that “there is a serious soft drink culture in Guyana. I don’t intent to offend the soft drink manufacturers but I have to say this…in Guyana people don’t like to drink water, they like to drink soft drink and it is just sugar water really and it is very bad for their health.”
“People are walking around not knowing they are diabetics and drinking a lot of soft drinks and they don’t even know they have a problem. So people need to be screened for diabetes and they need to be screened for hypertension too,” Dr. Singh added.
She insisted that it is time that people seek to take care of their health not only by eating properly but also by exercising. “People need to keep their weight down, check their Body Mass Index, stop smoking and watch their sugar and pressure and look at all of these things and have a healthy lifestyle,” said Dr. Singh.
But if beyond all this persons still develop worrying conditions they can still access the services of qualified physicians at the Dr. Balwant Singh Hospital, Dr. Singh assured.
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