LARKANA, Nov 2: Over 4.3 million persons in Pakistan have been positively diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus and this figure is likely to swell to 17 million by 2025.

This was stated by speakers during the one-day seminar held here to mark the World Diabetes Day on Saturday.

An specialist said that over 13.6 per cent of the rural population in Sindh was affected by the disease while the prevalence of diabetes mellitus in the province’s urban areas amounted to 16.05 per cent.

Speakers terming the disease a silent killer called for evidence-based treatment of the illness.

The seminar, attended by professionals from all over Sindh, was jointly organised by the Chandka Medical College’s (CMC) department of medicine and the Pakistan Society of Physicians (PSP).

The honorary president of the International Diabetes Federation, Prof Samad Shera, said that diabetes mellitus afflicted over 170 million people around the world and the figure may touch the mark of 300 million by 2025.

Pakistan, he said, ranked 8th while India ranked 1st among the world countries in this regard.

There were some 17 million what he called undiagnosed cases in the country, he added.

The speakers labelled the disease as a major health problem in Asia and indicated that 20 per cent of the cases were found in the Middle Eastern countries.

Doctors stressed on the need for more walking and less eating to fight the diseases, which they said was as dangerous as hypertension.

Speakers, on the occasion, also warned that smoking increased the risk of the disease.

They said that insulin should not be injected in the forearm.