PESHAWAR, Nov 26: NWFP Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi has urged senior doctors of the province to serve their suffering brethren without any discrimination and take steps to abolish groupings in the medical profession.

"I fail to see any purpose in these groupings which consume all the energy of a doctor," he said while speaking at a function held at the Hayatabad Medical Complex in connection with the world diabetes day here on Friday.

The chief secretary assured full support of the provincial government to health professionals and called for collective and consolidated efforts to serve humanity. He asked doctors to create awareness among masses about diabetes and said their interaction with patients and their attendants should carry a proper message so that the people could be saved from the complexities of life-threatening ailments.

Mr Qureshi advised the staff of the administrative departments of hospitals to work in close cooperation with health professionals so that the best possible health service could be provided to the people.

In his speech, head of the diabetes department of the HMC, Dr A.H. Aamir, presented statistics about diseases. He said at present Pakistan was at number eight in terms of prevalence of diabetes. But, it was feared that by year 2025, Pakistan would attain the fourth position if serious attention was not paid to stop the spread of diabetes, he added.

This meant that health professionals should be ready to cope with the likely surge in the number of diabetic people, he said, adding that the disease affected the most productive age from 35 to 65 years.

He also disclosed that diabetes was the leading cause of blindness in the western countries and warned that in case the disease was not controlled Pakistan would soon surpass developed countries in the number of diabetic patients.

Approximately 30 per cent of the people diagnosed with diabetes had some sort of eye infection, he said, adding that currently 50 per cent of diabetics had been found suffering from coronary disorders.

Besides, diabetes was also the leading cause of non-traumatic amputations all over the world while life expectancy of a diabetic person was reduced by five to 10 years, Dr Aamir said.

He mentioned the history of a diabetic patient admitted to the HMC who had already lost his right leg, got a sight-threatening eye disease and suffered two heart attacks. This was not an isolated case as there were a plenty of patients like this one, he claimed.

Later, the chief secretary inaugurated the diabetic counselling department and visited different sections and inquired about the functions of different machines installed there.