Hospital Treatment For Diabetic Patients

I had been to Medanta Hospital at Gurgaon alias Gurugram, closer to India’s capital city  Delhi,  in Haryana state of India last fortnight  with a view, among others,  to  have an expert medical review of the my health long exhausted  due to chronic diabetes. I had been diagnosed as a diabetic through administration of glucose tolerance test (GTT) almost thirty five years ago and somehow keep managing and struggling with it as of now. Dr. Rishi Kumar Kafle, one of the renowned nephrologists in Nepal, had administered this test at Medicare Hospital which had been housed in a small shoddy building at Putalisadak in proximity to the then office of Nepal Law Society where I used to frequent during those days. Medicare hospital was later shifted to its own big building at Chabahil.

 I was explained by Dr. Kafle then that GTT the body's response to sugar aka glucose. This test is generally conducted to screen for type 2 diabetes before symptoms are seen and detected. The test finds problems with the way the body handles sugar after one eats one’s own regular meal. After eating, body breaks down food into sugar. The sugar enters blood, and the body uses the sugar for energy. But with diabetes, the sugar level in the blood becomes high. Glucose mainly comes from carbohydrate in the food and drinks consumed. The blood in the body carries glucose to all body’s cells to use for energy. The body also stores glucose mainly in muscles and liver for future use.

Chronic condition 

Diabetes, according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), is a chronic condition that occurs when the pancreas can no longer make insulin, or the body cannot effectively use insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that acts like a key to let glucose from the food pass from the bloodstream into the cells in the body to produce energy. The body breaks down all carbohydrate foods into glucose in the blood, and insulin helps glucose move into the cells.When the body cannot produce or use insulin effectively, this leads to high blood glucose levels. Over the long-term high glucose levels are associated with damage to the body and failure of various organs and tissues.

 Estimates by IDF indicate that 537 million people worldwide had diabetes in 2021, resulting in health expenditures of US$966 billion globally. India alone has 77 million diabetic patients as of 2023 and it is feared that the country is becoming the world’s diabetic capital. I seek to have open discussions with doctors and physicians to whet my curiosities and enhance my general understanding of diabetes when I go for consultation with doctors time and again. From such interactions, I could get to know that diabetes has multi-faceted adverse effects on the patient’s health. It leads to vascular or blood vessel problems resulting in damage to nerves in eyes known as retinopathy and kidneys called nephropathy. It damages nerves in foot or other part of the body which is known as neuropathy. 

Diabetic patients suffer from increased thirst, blurred vision, and numbness in feet or hands. These symptoms have been unabatedly present with me for last several years. I have been making rounds with a host of doctors and physicians in hospitals both in Nepal and India seeking medical counseling and advice for the last three decades. I have availed consultations with doctors and physicians at Apollo Hospitals in New Delhi and Kolkata including the Nepal doctors working for different premier hospitals such as Norvic, Alka, Grande, TU Teaching Hospital, Manmohan Memorial Hospital and so on. Wherever I visit for consultation and medical advice, I have received very helpful counselling and dignified support from the physicians both in Nepal and India.

 But the recent visit to Medanta hospital and patient friendly ambience that I saw and experienced there impressed me very much. I was able to avail counselling of Dr. Jasjeet Wasir, director of endocrinology, who did receive me in a cordial manner, listened to me actively, communicated in a clear way and prescribed some new medicines replacing the ones I was taking for long. Studies have shown that clear doctor-patient communication is very important for successful medical treatment and its outcome. A well-informed and empowered patient is more likely to comply with and understand their treatment and therefore notice if something surrounding their treatment is different or unusual.

Soothing environment 

Moreover, the physical design and structure of Medanta hospital has been impressive with its open, sprawling space and nicely maintained garden surrounding it. This gives patients, their caregivers and visitors in the hospital a well guarded and nicely maintained green space to walk around and enjoy the soothing environment.  In such an ambience patients can experience better feeling along with reduced anxieties, tensions and negative emotions. Even though it was a short visit I found that the Medanta hospital has warm and responsive front desk, supportive nursing attendants, clear directions and facilities to navigate way and access to different sections and departments.  

Ideally Medanta holding several hospital establishments across India is designed with such physical structures facilities that offer a balanced sense of warmth and comfort. One of the country’s largest multi-specialty tertiary care provider,  it  was founded by Dr. Naresh Trehan, a world-renowned cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon, with the mission to deliver advanced but affordable medical services to patients. According to the information shared in the website for four years in a row, Medanta Gurugram ranked the best private hospital in India in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. It also featured in the list of top 250 global hospitals in 2023 by Newsweek.

(The author is presently associated with Policy Research Institute (PRI) as a senior research fellow.  rijalmukti@gmail.com)