Thiruvananthapuram: Diabetologists from India and international faculty members from eight nations have demanded policy initiatives to make life-saving devices like insulin pumps and glucose monitoring sensors free for Indian children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Participating in a global diabetes convention in Kovalam here on Saturday, they urged the removal of financial barriers to provide equitable healthcare solutions and reduce the long-term complications associated with diabetes, a release said here.
More than 8.6 lakh Indians are living with type 1 diabetes, it said.
The convention emphasised the importance of integrating comprehensive health education from a young age across the educational curriculums.
Diabetes should be made part of the school curriculum from Class five onwards, the experts demanded.
“It should not be a one-off attempt, but a continuous process,” Dr Jyotidev Keshavdev, the organising secretary of the convention said on the second day of the global diabetes convention.
The three-day event was inaugurated by Pooyam Thirunal Gowri Parvathy Bayi in the presence of prominent diabetologists.
More than 1,500 doctors, researchers, educators and paramedical experts are participating in the convention that ends on Sunday, the release added.
