{"id":41063,"date":"2022-12-01T19:28:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T19:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs"},"modified":"2022-12-01T20:07:22","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T20:07:22","slug":"diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs","title":{"rendered":"Diabetic patients ask govt for free drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Diabetic patients in Mbarara City have tasked the government to avail more drugs and testing services in public health facilities.<\/p>\n

The chairperson of Mbarara Diabetic Patients Association, Mr Darius Ahimbisibwe, said they face many challenges in accessing drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe request the government of Uganda to intervene and help our clients by giving them free testing; there is where a diabetes patient require to take both hypertension and diabetes drugs but when they reach at the hospital, they are given only drugs for diabetes,\u201d he said in an interview on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Ms Zubeda Nakabuga, 59, a resident of Kiswahili Cell in South Division, Mbarara City, said she has lived with diabetes for 22 years but spends Shs700,000 monthly on medication.<\/p>\n

Ms Nakabuga narrated how diabetes led to her amputation of the leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2000, I experienced itching in my legs; feeling totally unwell, I went to Kampala International University Teaching Hospital and I was diagnosed with diabetes. They said I was dehydrated, with less blood in my body, and was put on medication but my condition kept deteriorating,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey had to keep cutting off my feet nails one by one and in 2019, they had to cut off (amputate) my leg,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Current situation<\/b><\/p>\n

Mr Ahimbisibwe said despite efforts by Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital to support the diabetic patients, the drugs are not enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe decided to form our association in order to improve the health standards of diabetes patients; currently we are 3,500 members. We offer free tests and medication and also give our members health education and sensitise them about the diseases and challenges encountered,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The director of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, Dr Celestine Barigye, said there is a need to sensitise the public on diabetes so that people can easily know how to prevent it.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiabetes is in two types, there is juvenile diabetes, which is inborn, especially to young babies, that is rare because usually children die before parents or doctors have known the cause, and there is also diabetes that catches the adults. This disease has increased because of the diet and lack of exercise among people. It\u2019s a non-communicable disease,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Dr Barigye said the hospital has big numbers of diabetic patients yet they receive few drugs, which makes it hard for every patient that comes to the facility to get medication.<\/p>\n

\u201cMbarara regional referral is one of the centres with many patients with diabetes and we do not have enough medicines. We do not get medicines in big quantities because they are expensive. Patients had to form an association to help them collect contributions and purchase enough drugs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Worrying trend <\/b><\/p>\n

The Uganda Diabetes Phenotype (UDIP) research done between February 2019 and October 2020 in hospitals in Kampala, detected a high prevalence of diabetes among lean people, contrary to the conventional picture that links the disease to obesity.<\/p>\n

While an estimated 3 percent of Ugandans live with diabetes, more than 88 percent of them are not sure about their diabetic status, the Uganda Health Sector Survey 2014 reveals.<\/p>\n

The survey says the increased diabetic conditions among the young and elderly persons is a result of low consumption of vegetables and fresh fruits.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Diabetic patients in Mbarara City have tasked the government to avail more drugs and testing services in public health facilities. The chairperson of Mbarara Diabetic Patients Association, Mr Darius Ahimbisibwe, said they face many challenges in accessing drugs. \u201cWe request the government of Uganda to intervene and help our clients by giving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":41062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-41063","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nDiabetic patients ask govt for free drugs - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Diabetic patients in Mbarara City have tasked the government to avail more drugs and testing services in public health f ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diabetic patients ask govt for free drugs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Diabetic patients in Mbarara City have tasked the government to avail more drugs and testing services in public health f ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-01T19:28:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-12-01T20:07:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1669910362.31.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"688\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Diabetic patients ask govt for free drugs\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-01T19:28:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-12-01T20:07:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs\"},\"wordCount\":545,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1669910362.31.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/diabetic-patients-ask-govt-for-free-drugs\",\"name\":\"Diabetic patients ask govt for free drugs - 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