Diabetes health team from Osler visits DMCH

Ludhiana : Under a joint collaboration programme between from William Osler Health System, Ontario, Canada and Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), a nine member delegation from Canada visited DMCH to enhance care of diabetic patients by improving patient education. This was the fourth such visit under the joint collaboration program between the two institutions.

Vice president at Osler Kim Bellismo said that the focus of this visit, was to enhance care of diabetic patients . This included taking steps at community and social level to decrease the incidence of diabetes in the general population as well as taking good care of diabetic patients to prevent secondary complications.

Dr Parminder Singh, head of endocrinology department at DMCH said that the tour was focused on the importance of patient education and role of dieticians and nursing support in effective management of diabetic patients. Dr Singh said that their department will be integrating patient education in its outpatient services as well. This would be provided by specially trained educators who will teach the patients about healthy dietary practices, monitoring of glucose levels to avoid complications.

The team visited satellite health centres run by DMCH at Pohir and Shimlapuri The visiting team toured the dietary department of DMCH and was impressed to see that fresh and nutritious diet without any processed food was being provided to the indoor patients. Prof. Naveen Mittal and Dr. Saurabh from department of Endocrinology said that both sides have learnt about new techniques and the knowledge exchange will definitely improve patient care. The visiting team consisted of Dr. Leili Pede, Dr. Elizabeth Powell, Dr. Faiz Daudi, Rashmi Ahuja Dietician, Babita Sandhu Diabetes educator, Hina Marsonia pharmacist, Nancy Wangui Social worker and Ashneet Singh Coordinator. In the last day of the visit, the team summed up their experience and gave a formal feedback and recommendations to their peers at DMCH. Dr. Puri said this feedback provides valuable insight to further improve our services and patient care.