DDRC SRL Diagnostics Announces Diabetes Awareness & Testing Drive in Kerala

KOCHI:
Recognising the increasing incidence of Diabetes in the state of Kerala, DDRC SRL Diagnostics have announced an extensive testing drive in all of its 200+ centres across the state. November 14th 2021 is observed as World Diabetes Day globally. In a bid to encourage citizens to diagnose early and undertake preventive measures, DDRC SRL Diagnostics has announced that it will be offering the gold standard diabetes monitoring test, HbA1c at a 50% discount.

Kerala is considered the diabetes capital of India as the prevalence of diabetes in the southern state is over 20% as compared to a national average of 8%. Studies have also shown a prevalence of 11-19% in men and 15-22% in women with rural Keralans having paradoxically higher rates of diabetes than urban dwellers.

Speaking on the occasion of World Diabetes Day, Anand K, Chief Executive Officer, SRL Diagnostics said, “One in six people with Diabetes in the world is from India. As of 2019, India had the second-highest number of diabetes patients aged between 20 and 79 years with close to 77 million living with diabetes. Kerala is considered the diabetics capital of India with the disease prevalence at 20% when compared to the national average of 8%. In order to create social awareness regarding diabetes mellitus and help more people get diagnosed early, we are happy to announce a 50% discount for HbA1c test across our 200 centers in Kerala on Sunday, 14th November 2021. We urge the citizens to make use of this opportunity and take control of their health.”

Dr. Ajith Joy, Director, DDRC SRL Diagnostics, Kerala added “Kerala has the highest incidence rate for Diabetes in India. Genetic risk plays a smaller role when compared to lifestyle parameters that contribute to the onset of diabetes. HbA1c is the most reliable test in the management of diabetes as multiple variables affect the result analysis of fasting and post prandial blood sugar tests. The 90-120 days average blood sugar values indicated by the HbA1c test enables doctors and patients to work towards attaining good diabetic control. A diabetic with controlled blood sugar values can be essentially considered non-diabetic as long as it is kept under good control. Statistics point out that over 65% of diabetics on medication are out of control in Kerala. Uncontrolled diabetes leads to multiple long term complications like increased risk of heart disease and stroke, loss of eye sight, kidney and liver issues etc. At DDRC SRL Diagnostics, our goal is to spread awareness on good control of blood sugar levels to prevent complications and lead a healthy life.”

Speaking on the clinical utility of HbA1c, Dr. Hari Shankar, MD Biochemistry, DDRC SRL Diagnostics, Kerala said “By performing HbA1c on the best available technology like HPLC, our team of qualified technologists have also aided in the diagnosis of certain other disorders like thalassemia, iron deficiency anaemia, hereditary spherocytosis too. DDRC SRL’s uncompromising stand on quality and reliability in diagnosis makes this possible.”

Ahead of World Diabetes Day, DDRC SRL Diagnostics also did a retrospective data analysis of over 4, 76,440 samples that were tested for HbA1c over a four year period. Individuals who had performed the glycosylated or glycated Hemoglobin (HbA1c) test in the past 4 years were considered for this analysis. HbA1c is used for both screening and diagnostic purposes and is used widely by clinicians to assess glycaemic control in diabetic individuals.