bdnews24.com :
At least one in four diabetic patients in Bangladesh suffer from failing eyesight and could totally lose it, the ORBIS Regional Director for Asia says.
“It’s a conservative estimate,” Abu Raihan told bdnews24.com on Monday, analysing global and regional trends of the diabetic retinopathy and the rise in Bangladesh’s diabetic population.
He suggested an universal eye care system in which a person’s eyes would be checked-up as soon as he was diagnosed with diabetes.
Uncontrolled blood sugar can damage the tiny blood vessels of the retina, leading to leakages from blood vessels.
That condition is called diabetic retinopathy. It often occurs before a person becomes aware of it.
Delayed diagnosis and uncontrolled diabetes could lead to total loss of eyesight.
Raihan who oversees ORBIS International’s programme in the Asia region that covers countries like China, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia came to Dhaka to attend a seminar on eye care.
Globally 382 million people were diabetic last year.
Of them 5.1 million died, one in six seconds. Some suffered strokes or serious kidney damage.
If the trend continues, the number of diabetic people will reach close to 600 million in 2035.
South East Asia is the home of 72 million diabetic people with the rising trend of urbanisation and changes of lifestyle and food habit.
In Bangladesh it is between 8 percent and 10 percent of the total population that means about 16 million are suffering from diabetes.
It would also partly because of the prevalence of sweets in Bengali food.
There is no exact figure about the number of retinopathy patients though doctors at diabetic hospitals say they are getting a growing number of people with eye complications.
Raihan said one in two diabetic patients suffered retinopathy in South Africa, China and even Malaysia.
“In Bangladesh where people are not aware of it analysing all figures we can safely say that one in four diabetic patients suffer from retinopathy,” he said, “the challenge is we have to find them all to treat”.
“It’s an emerging challenge. But we don’t suffer a knowledge gap, but have problems in using technologies,” he said.
Raihan who once served as ORBIS country director in Bangladesh urged all to be prepared to tackle diabetic retinopathy. “The damage is irreversible, but can be prevented,” he said.
The best way to prevent diabetic eye problem, he said, is to encourage healthy lifestyle and control the diabetes.
He advised annual eye check-ups particularly for those who are above 40 years of old.
“Those who are at risk of diabetes should have annual checkup whether he is developing the condition,” he said, “universal eye care can be an option”.
“Apart from taking care of your eyes, you have to treat diabetes. So eye care should be placed within the health system. You have to integrate it”.
“If a doctor only treats eyes for retinopathy, then the patient will not get cured, rather he will go blind, if diabetes remained uncontrolled.
“Universal eye care means an accessible multi-disciplinary approach,” he said.
“If a doctor finds a patient diabetic, then he will send him to the next room to check-up his eyes to see any changes in retina.
“Out of the 3 to 4 million (one in four diabetic patients) retinopathy patients we will get, we can tackle most if they are in an early stage”.
“But if left untreated they would go blind,” he said.
He, however, said detection was possible with limited resources.
“In each district there is a diabetic society. If we set a handycam and internet we can take picture of the retina and sent the image to the centre in Dhaka to an eye doctor who can immediately analyse for any changes,” he said.
“This approach is needed since you cannot engage doctors to look into everyone’s eyes. It’s impossible to cover all people with the limited number of doctors,” he said.
“But with high resolution image technology, we can find out those (retinopathy) people,” he said.
Director General of Health Services Prof Deen Md Noorul Huq , an eye specialist whon spoke at the seminar, also acknowledged that diabetic related health complications was a challenge.
“We are trying to fight against it. It’s possible,” he said stressing on raising awareness.
There are only 900 eye doctors in Bangladesh, according to the government’s statistics.
