How Sarawak diabetes register can grow faster

Star: A Sarawak Diabetes Register is being compiled by the state Health Department to find out the number of people suffering from the disease.
State Health director Dr Yao Sik King said progress on the register was slow as the department depended on doctors and clinics to provide the necessary information.
“Unlike dengue, there is no law compelling doctors to notify us of diabetes cases, so we depend very much on their goodwill to inform us of any case,” she told a press conference here yesterday.
Dr Yao urged healthcare providers in the public and private sectors to inform the department whenever they diagnosed a patient with diabetes to enable the register to be compiled accurately.
Fewer than 20,000 diabetes patients have been included in the register, a figure described by Dr Yao as far below the estimated prevalence rate of 8%.
“Based on this rate, 180,000 to 190,000 Sarawakians could be suffering from diabetes. So we still have a long way to go in compiling the register,” she said.
Work on the register began one-and-a-half years ago with the objective of determining the number of diabetics in Sarawak so that prevention campaigns and treatment could be targeted more effectively.
Earlier, Dr Yao announced that Sarawak would host the national-level World Diabetes Day celebration themed “Diabetes and Foot Care” on Nov 14.
Among the activities lined up for the event, to be launched by Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, are radio talks and public lectures on diabetes as well as free diabetes screenings for the public.