Kochi: The diabetes care sector in the country is yet to tap into the benefits of the technological advancements in the field, experts who attended the DTechCon 2024 (World Congress of Diabetes Technology & Therapeutics) at Crowne Plaza said. In developed countries, the technologies for diabetes care are provided either by insurers or by the government since many of these are found to drastically reduce the cost of diabetes care. However, in India, the adoption is very less mainly due to ignorance among the community, the seasoned medical professionals said. Of the more than 100 million diabetics in the country, not even one percentage is getting the benefits of the technologies, they added.
Dr Robert Vigersky from the USA, Dr Pratik Choudhary (UK), Dr Viral Shah (US), Dr Warren Lee (Singapore) and Dr Julia Medar (Austria) were among the endocrinologists who shared the concern on Saturday -- the second day of the meet. Dr Vigersky, who has been involved in research into diabetes technology for a long, spoke about the automated insulin delivery (AID) system. “Earlier only 40-60 per cent automation was possible for modulating insulin delivery. Now we have reached a stage where even 76-80 per cent automation is executed successfully. That means in those requiring insulin it can be delivered without fear of glucose going down,” he said, in a session chaired by Dr Jyothydev Kesavadev and Dr Prasannakumar.
Dr Viral Shah said the relevance of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) in the treatment of diabetes is going to increase and investment in research in the area is the need of the hour. "CGM is here to stay, its use is going to increase even in people with pre-diabetes and without diabetes,” he said. Various sessions on the second day of the event saw experts from different parts of the world speaking on topics ranging from challenges in technology to diabetes during pregnancy, and the application of CGM. The three-day conference will conclude on Sunday. The final day's programmes include a workshop on Artificial Intelligence.
