Laide Raheem, Abeokuta
People living with diabetes in Nigeria have appealed to the federal and state governments to subsidise or make the treatment of diabetes-free in public hospitals.
They made the appeal in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital at the opening ceremony of the 2019 Triennial Delegates Congress and World Diabetes Day Celebration, organised by the Diabetes Association of Nigeria (DAN).
They bemoaned the high cost of managing diabetes in Nigeria and called on the government, international organisations, to support groups and private individuals to come together and fight the disease.
Speaking in a lecture titled, “Improving Diabetes Care In Nigeria: Useful Strategies”, Prof. Olufemi Fasanmade, lamented that diabetes treatment in Nigeria is a huge financial burden, not only on the patients but also on their family members.
He disclosed that a diabetes patient in Nigeria spends 66 percent of his expenditure on treatment unlike in the UK where a patient only spends 10 percent.
According to him, Nigerians spent N92b in treating diabetes in 2017 and called on the government to make the treatment of diabetes free like that of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis.
Fasanmade, also bemoaned the low budget allocation for the health sector, insisting that the budget for health is too low to address the various health challenges confronting the nation.
He advised Nigerians to keep a healthy lifestyle and avoid habits such as smoking, alcohol and bad eating habits which could promote diabetes.
Fasanmade also urged the federal and state governments to revitalise the Health Insurance Scheme to capture more Nigerians who cannot afford expensive healthcare services, stressing that all Nigerians should have health insurance to improve the funding of health sector.
The national president of DAN, Dr. Mohammed Alkali in his welcome address, stated that diabetes had become a major global epidemic among Non-Communicable Diseases, disclosing that between 5-9million Nigerians have the disease “but over half of them are not aware of it”.
Alkali said, ”It is not an exaggeration to say that almost everyone in Nigeria has a relation or friend that is diabetic and might have lost one. This is only going to be worse unless we enlighten the public and we do massive screening for them to prevent the epidemic from engulfing the world.”
He, however, urged Nigerians to seek medical advice on how to live healthy and always screen themselves to know if they have the disease, saying “with proper health care, over 50 percent of diabetes cases would be prevented”.
Also speaking, the Secretary of the Association, Mr. Bernard Enyia, said, majority of diabetes patients fall victim of “quacks, unlicensed tradomedical practitioners, drug vendors and dubious religious leaders who preach spiritual healings.”
He added that mischievous medical practitioners who have huge appetite for money as well as incessant strike actions by doctors and health workers had further compounded the treatment of the disease in the country.
Lamenting the high cost of treating diabetes in Nigeria, Enyia disclosed that “I spend an average of $125 per month to procure essential diabetes care”.