Advanced diabetic centre to be set up in Lucknow

Lucknow : A one-stop centre for diabetes care will become operational at the Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences here next year.

The Advanced Diabetic Centre, which is billed as North India’s first such centre in the government sector, aims to provide all treatment facilities related to diabetes under one roof.

Prof Sushil Gupta, senior doctor in the department of Endocrinology at the hospital, told PTI that patients suffering from diabetes in some cases also develop problems related to eyes, kidneys and feet. Such patients have to travel to different departments for treatment. But after the construction of the Advanced Diabetic Centre, all treatment related to diabetes will be available to such patients under one roof.

A proposal to purchase modern equipment worth Rs 24 crore has been sent to the Uttar Pradesh government. Soon the work on recruitment of faculty and nursing staff will also be completed and it is expected that this centre will start working for patients in the beginning of 2024, officials said.

At the centre, specialists in the field of diabetes, eye and kidney diseases will be available. Besides, admission facilities for 40 patients suffering from severe diabetes will also be available.

Uttar Pradesh’s Medical Education and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak said the centre will be a “gift to the people of the state in the New Year”.

Highlighting the enormity of the prevalence of the disease, Prof Gupta said, “In the past one year, around 25,000 patients suffering from diabetes had come to the OPD of the institute. Of these, there were about 10,000 patients, whose diabetes had worsened so much that its effects were visible on their eyes and they had to be sent to a specialist in the ophthalmology department.”

There were about 5,000 such patients, whose kidneys were affected and they had to consult a nephrologist. Similarly, there were about 500-600 patients, who had to undergo treatment for diabetic foot.

Gupta said during the previous tenure of the Uttar Pradesh government, the then Medical Education Minister Suresh Khanna was informed about the problems faced by diabetic patients and an amount of about Rs 44 crore was approved for the construction of the building.

Khanna told PTI that “We want that no patient from Uttar Pradesh needs to go out (of the state) for treatment. Since it is such a big state, people here should get all the medical facilities in their own state. That’s why we approved the opening of the Advanced Diabetic Centre in Lucknow SGPGI itself”.

Pathak said “The building of the Advanced Diabetes Centre is ready and equipment and faculty are about to arrive. The general public of the state will get this gift in the New Year.” Hospital Director Dr RK Dhiman said, “Patients from all over the country and abroad come to SGPGI Lucknow for treatment. In such a situation, a decision has been taken to expand the services in the institute. An advanced diabetic-ophthalmic centre has been built here at a cost of about Rs 50 crore.”