Sir Syed Institute of Diabetes & Endocrinology

“Educate a woman and you educate a whole family” - Prof. Samad Shera

Inauguration of Sir Syed Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology (SSIDE)

A public awareness program was organized at Sir Syed college of Medical Sciences, Karachi, on the occasion of inauguration ceremony of “Sir Syed Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology” (SSIDE) for "Diabetes Education and Prevention".

On this occasion, Director of Sir Syed Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology and Professor of Medicine, Prof. Zaman Shaikh, highlighted the objectives and goals of establishment of this institute. He said that prime  objective is to cater to the patients with diabetes and hormone diseases, with standard treatment in a cost effective manner. Second objective is to provide postgraduate training to junior doctors in the field of diabetes and hormone diseases under one roof and to award them diploma. Many continuous medical educational programs are in pipeline for awareness of diabetes patients.  Emphasis will also be given to the screening and preventive strategies. He said that dialysis facilities will also be available very soon. He also informed that facilities will also be available to patients with other hormone diseases besides diabetes, like thyroid disorders, short and tall stature in children, infertility - both in males and females, excessive hair growth in women, calcium and bone disorders, ambiguous genitalia and menstrual disorders in women like polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Talking on the significance of lifestyle changes, Dr. Zaman emphasized the need of doing daily physical exercise in the form of daily brisk morning walk for atleast 30 minutes for average diabetes patients, focus on doing sensible dieting, lose excessive body weight and to avoid smoking. He further said that healthy breakfast must be taken to stabilize the metabolism of body. Moreover, he also emphasized that there are three white poisons which should be avoided like white flour, sugar and salt. He mentioned that obesity is not only a cosmetic problem but predisposes to complications like type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart attacks, joint pains, stones in the gall bladder, periods problem in women, and some cancers.

The chief guest of this event, Prof. A. Samad Shera - Secretary General of Diabetic Association of Pakistan, also spoke about diabetes. He said that this disease is actually a silent killer because not only symptoms but most of the complications of diabetes are also silent in nature. He also added that diabetes in adults may show no sign upto 6 years. However, if age of a person is more than 30 with obesity and positive family history of diabetes their chances of developing it are extremely high. While addressing the audience, he also mentioned a waist size of more than 35.5 inches in males and 31.5 inches in females is the cut off for obesity.

Prof. Yaqoob Ahmadani, a renowned diabetologist from Baqai Institute of Diabetology and Endocrinology, also delivered an address on diabetes awareness and complications with special reference to diabetic foot.

Prof. M. H. Usmani talked about the kidney complications in diabetes. He expressed his views on pre-disposing factors which lead to kidney failure in diabetes, like uncontrolled blood sugar, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and smoking. He emphasized that some painkillers are not safe for kidney in diabetes.

Dr. Shabeen Naz, addressed this event on yet another complication of Diabetes during pregnancy. She said that obesity and positive family history are major risk factors for gestational diabetes. Regular blood sugar levels should always be checked during pregnancy in order to avoid complications in mother and newborn babies.

On this occasion, Prof. Zeenat Ayoob, Principal of Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences, Dr. Moinuddin Sheikh, Chairman of Sir Syed College of Medical Sciences, and Dr. Ziaullah Khan also spoke. Ribbon cutting ceremony also took place at the end of the ceremony which was done by the Dr. Moin-ud-din Sheikh and Prof. Samad Shera. After the scientific session, free blood sugar, blood pressure and obesity tests were performed on all the patients with diabetes attending this seminar.