Diabetes making people blind

AN increasing number of people are becoming blind every year as a result of diabetes, a doctor says.
Diabetes retinopathy (diabetes complication that affects the eye) is the new leading cause of blindness in people aged 20 to 74 around the world, including the Pacific, said Pacific Eye Institute senior faculty ophthalmologist Dr Harris Ansari.
According to Mayo Clinic, diabetic retinopathy was caused by damage to blood vessels of the light sensitive tissue at the back of the eye (retina).
Ansari, a consultant for eye-care health in PNG, said there were some blood-flow changes which happened in patients with diabetes that increased the risk of developing diabetic retinopathy.
He said a large number of people between 40 and 59 years were affected by diabetes but 50 per cent of them were undiagnosed, causing about four million deaths in the world in 2017.
He said the total adult population in PNG was 4.17 million and about 15 per cent were diabetic – about 614,000.
“It’s bigger than the population of other Pacific Island countries.
“All these diabetic patients would need at least an eye check-up yearly.
“If they have more complications, they will require more treatment to follow.
“It is a big work and we are currently understaffed and under-resourced to handle it,” he said
Ansari said doctors should cure diabetes to address the eye problem.
He also told eye clinicians during the conference that if they were to focus on the eye, they were not going to win hence they should help the patients to control their diabetic condition.