‘We have to do good service rather than just expand’

Says Dr Vijay, “My father always focused on educating the patient. That was an integral part of treatment. I continue to apply the same principle: information enables the person to fight the disease more effectively.” He helms the pioneering institute for diabetes in the country, which was established in 1954, continuing where his father left off. 

“My father believed in helping patients live their normal span of life. I thought of adding foot care of diabetics to our activities as amputations are common among diabetics due to neuropathy, resulting due to neglect of the feet: we therefore have a footwear factory inside our hospital, making designer and stylish footwear all in the range of Rs 600-1000. This is my 25th year in the mission to save legs.” They have managed to save close to 88,000 people from amputations. Dr Vijay, who has been part of the Indian Medical Association and other such professional bodies, has published close to 150 research articles on various aspects of diabetes and its complications in peer-reviewed national and international scientific journals and has also contributed chapters to 15 books. 

Diabetes, once considered the rich man’s disease, has now become rather more commonplace, especially among the urban poor. “India spends $32.3 billion on the disease as one in every five Indians has the disease. We have as many as 50 per cent of the diabetics going undiagnosed while there is a huge section that is pre-diabetic. The government should also focus on primary prevention: we need more walking space for those who wish to exercise. Medicine and treatment costs should be subsidised. Private centres can only take care of a handful of patients who come to them. Follow-up is a big problem because some of them don’t come back just because consultations have to be paid for. We can bring down deaths, kidney failure and heart attacks if the patient consults every four months without fail. There is no insurance cover for this and 90 per cent of the treatment is out of one’s own pocket,” he points out. 

The institute also serves as a WHO collaborating centre.  “This is the 12th year of our association with the organisation. We conduct studies and work closely with the local government, apart from training doctors in the state at the primary health centre levels for diabetes care.”    Running three centres of his institute in the city and another in Bengaluru, Dr Vijay says they are not keen on expansion. “We have to do good service rather than merely expand,“ he says.

 — Janani Sampath