Over 7 mln people in Pakistan are diabetes patients

Pakistan ranks the seventh in the world in terms of diabetes prevalence rate and over 7.1 million people in the country are diabetes patients, reported local media on Monday. Quoting a report by the World International Diabetes Federation, a local English newspaper "The News" said that every year 89,000 people die of diabetes in Pakistan and the number of diabetes patients in the country could hit 11.5 million by the year 2025 if proper measures were not taken. This would make Pakistan the world's fifth largest country in terms of its number of diabetes patients 14 years later, warned the report. At a seminar organized Monday in Islamabad to observe the World Diabetes Day which falls on Nov. 14, Dr. Abdus Salam from Shifa International Hospital, a private-run hospital in the capital city, said that every ten seconds, two people are diagnosed with diabetes and one person dies of diabetes-related causes. The average age of diabetes patients in Pakistan is one of the lowest in the world, said the report. In a bid to raise public awareness about the harmful effects of diabetes, various diabetes camps, scientific sessions, seminars and walks were organized across the country on Monday to mark the World Diabetes Day. In a message delivered on Sunday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said that the World Diabetes Day draws attention to the lethality of the disease and underscores the need of preventive measures at individual and collective levels. "Diabetes is a killer which is taking the life of one person out of every 800," said the prime minister, adding that "this disease hits people of all age groups, rich and poor alike without any discrimination."