Segun Babatunde in Bauchi
The Diabetes Association of Nigeria (DAN) has lamented that people living with diabetes have died more as a result of COVID 19 outbreak in the country as they developed complications.
National Secretary of the association Bernard Enyia made the lamentation when he paid an advocacy visit to Sparkling FM Cross Rivers state.
According to him, over 20 members of the association in the state died during the COVID 19 lockdown as there was no access to essential medicines and services.
Bernard in a press release he issued to our correspondent in Bauchi Friday on the advocacy visit stated that the strike action embarked upon by medical doctors in the state at the heat of Covid-19 aggravated their situation as many members of the association broke down with severe complications adding that numerous others have been earmarked for amputations of their limbs.
The secretary enumerated factors responsible for poor access to diabetes care, prevention and control to include negligence on the part of government, exclusion of diabetes care in the nationaI health insurance scheme and lack of awareness and sensitization of the public on the dangers of the diseases.
Other factors according to him are non integration of diabetes care in the primary health care delivery system, brain drain on medical experts, medical practitioners leaving the practice to politics, quacks and trado medical drug vendors, inadequate diabetes educators as well as the non availability of adequate skilled medical practitioners.
He decried a situation where the government and other well meaning individuals neglected people living with diabetes through out the period of Covid-19 by non provision of palliatives to them.
He appealed to the management of the radio station to support the association in terms of mass publicity, development of diabetes promos, jingles and podcasts with a view to sensitizing government on the need to come up with programs to assist the patients.
The association also conferred the award of ‘Diabetes Ambassador’ on the General Manager Sparkling FM 92.3 Mr Effiong Nyong during the visit. END
