Diabetes could cause crashes
Due to the fact that untreated diabetes can cause hallucinations and coma when blood sugar levels drop, the Diabetes Association of Namibia says this could be contributing to the high level of deadly road accidents.
The Diabetic Association of Namibia (DAN) says that up to 50% people are not aware of their diabetic status. The association wants to collaborate with the Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund saying that many of accidents recorded on our roads could be due to diabetes and drivers being unaware of the their status.
DAN coordinator, Dr Matthews Mojekwu, told Namibian Sun that some road crashes, especially those which see a driver completely out of his lane or simply having lost control of the vehicle, could be linked to diabetic attacks.
“Hypoglycaemia and coma are the only two of the many myriad of disasters that may afflict a diabetic and as such, they can develop visual hallucinations moments before lapsing into a coma while driving. This can cause a major accident,” explained Mojekwu.
From 12 to 19 November it is Diabetic Week and the DAN would like to step up the fight against diabetes, including tagging diabetic patients with tags that contain their diabetic records to assist medical practitioners.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar, and hyperglycaemia or raised blood sugar is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes.
WHO say that the disease is in two forms - Type 1 diabetes which is characterised by deficient insulin and Type 2 diabetes that results from the body's ineffective use of insulin.
Mojekwu said that during Diabetic Week they are planning to obtain sufficient signatures and data which will assist them to make a request to the MVA Fund to ask parliamentarians to enact a law that will make it mandatory for every driver to be readily tested for their blood sugar.
“It is our belief that because diabetes is so rampant and that as much 50% of diabetics are not aware of their status, many of them are drivers who can lapse into hypoglycaemic coma and visual hallucinations at any time,” he said.
He said that in some cases survivors only have a vague recollection of events following these episodes.
DAN also urges members of the public also to test for diabetes. They are planning to tag all diabetics with alert bracelets that will assist medical practitioners. He said that many people have lost their lives because they were wrongly treated.
“If you are diabetic and you so desire, a DAN medic alert bracelet could be obtained at our offices. This is to ensure that that all diabetic patients throughout the country are identified as such. The bracelets will contain the patient's diabetic information and record that will assist medical practitioners to give the right treatment and medication whenever they are attending to diabetic patients,” he said.
“We are equally motivating our medical students to carry out more research on this phenomenon as someone hypoglycaemia may appear as delusions and to those who have no knowledge, the person appears to be drunk. All this information will assist the MAV Fund's approach and measures in addressing road safety.”
ILENI NANDJATO
DAN coordinator, Dr Matthews Mojekwu, told Namibian Sun that some road crashes, especially those which see a driver completely out of his lane or simply having lost control of the vehicle, could be linked to diabetic attacks.
“Hypoglycaemia and coma are the only two of the many myriad of disasters that may afflict a diabetic and as such, they can develop visual hallucinations moments before lapsing into a coma while driving. This can cause a major accident,” explained Mojekwu.
From 12 to 19 November it is Diabetic Week and the DAN would like to step up the fight against diabetes, including tagging diabetic patients with tags that contain their diabetic records to assist medical practitioners.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) diabetes is a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar, and hyperglycaemia or raised blood sugar is a common effect of uncontrolled diabetes.
WHO say that the disease is in two forms - Type 1 diabetes which is characterised by deficient insulin and Type 2 diabetes that results from the body's ineffective use of insulin.
Mojekwu said that during Diabetic Week they are planning to obtain sufficient signatures and data which will assist them to make a request to the MVA Fund to ask parliamentarians to enact a law that will make it mandatory for every driver to be readily tested for their blood sugar.
“It is our belief that because diabetes is so rampant and that as much 50% of diabetics are not aware of their status, many of them are drivers who can lapse into hypoglycaemic coma and visual hallucinations at any time,” he said.
He said that in some cases survivors only have a vague recollection of events following these episodes.
DAN also urges members of the public also to test for diabetes. They are planning to tag all diabetics with alert bracelets that will assist medical practitioners. He said that many people have lost their lives because they were wrongly treated.
“If you are diabetic and you so desire, a DAN medic alert bracelet could be obtained at our offices. This is to ensure that that all diabetic patients throughout the country are identified as such. The bracelets will contain the patient's diabetic information and record that will assist medical practitioners to give the right treatment and medication whenever they are attending to diabetic patients,” he said.
“We are equally motivating our medical students to carry out more research on this phenomenon as someone hypoglycaemia may appear as delusions and to those who have no knowledge, the person appears to be drunk. All this information will assist the MAV Fund's approach and measures in addressing road safety.”
ILENI NANDJATO
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