The National Assembly hosted a roundtable on "The epidemic of diabetes - how to contain it?". The forum, organized by the parliamentary Health Committee and "Trud" newspaper on the occasion of the World Diabetes Day - November 14, was under the patronage of the National Assembly President Tsetska Tsacheva.
This roundtable is an example of consistency and continuity, because it has become a tradition to bring together in the parliament all parties involved in the prevention and treatment of diabetes, says the President of the National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva in an address to the participants, read by the Chairperson of the Health Committee Daniela Daritkova.
The President of the Bulgarian Parliament points out that Bulgaria has achieved a lot in terms of care for the people with diabetes, efforts are underway to introduce in practical terms all the achievements of modern diabetology.
The spread of the disease has acquired in recent years threatening proportions - not only in Bulgaria, but also worldwide and therefore the responsible authorities should take appropriate measures to contain it, says Tsetska Tsacheva. Early detection allows for early and adequate therapy, while with better control the disease could be even contained and its effects limited, she said. By orgnizing this roundtable on the eve of the World Day to combat this major diseases we again demonstrate our full commitment to the fight against diabetes, said the National Assembly President.
At the opening, the Chairperson of Health Committee Daniela Daritkova noted that as the theme of the roundtable is extremely topical, the discussion will be helpful for better policy decisions for good health care in the field of diabetes, both as prevention and as therapy, but also for raising citizens’ awareness to personal health care.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Vanyo Sharkov we are all affected by the epidemic of diabetes, but we are also involved in its creation, because it is related to the way we eat and live and the way we treat ourselves. Joint efforts should be directed not only to treatment, but also to prevention, he said. I would very much like to focus next year on children suffering from diabetes, Deputy Minister Sharkov added.
The Ombudsman of the Republic Maya Manolova said she has been assured by the Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Fund that a clinical pathway will be set up to provide consumables for insulin pumps for children with diabetes. Daniela Daritkova expressed hope that the NHIF next year budget will allocate funds for reimbursing the consumables for insulin pumps for children.
815 girls and 770 boys with diabetes are registered in the children’s age group of up to 14 years, said Prof. Dimitar Charakchiev, advisor to the Minister of Health. At the same time, in this age group the compensation of diabetes happens to be the worst. The total number of Bulgarians diagnosed with diabetes is 461,644, the largest among them being the age group between 60 and 74 years.
The national consultant in endocrinology Prof. Sabina Zaharieva noted as success the establishment of a diabetes registry. In her words, diabetes affects about 50 million people in the EU and costs annually to the European Union € 50 billion. Prevention of the disease should seek to combat obesity, said the Chairman of the Bulgarian Diabetes Association Prof. Ivona Daskalova. She stressed the need to ensure reimbursement of insulin pumps and supplies for them and for specific groups such as pregnant women.
The forum was attended by MPs, representatives of health institutions and patient organizations. Before its start, on the occasion of World Diabetes Day, children suffering from diabetes measured the levels of blood glucose of MPs, journalists and guests of the parliament.