Date:02/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/02/stories/2007110253890400.htm

New Delhi

Delhi conference on diabetes, obesity

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: The Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here is organising the first two-day Sir Ganga Ram SAARC Diabetes Conference on “Obesity and Diabetes” beginning this Saturday. Top doctors and scientists from across the world will discuss new techniques available and those being tested to control diabetes, including inhaler insulin, drugs, surgery, stem cells and drugs which reverse diabetes by regenerating dying insulin cells.

“Our understanding of the causes of obesity has undergone a sea change. The prevalence of obesity is rising rapidly all across the globe, especially in Asia. Asians are more prone to develop diabetes and other metabolic complications of obesity. One of the most important causes of this epidemic of diabetes is obesity, especially among children. There are 25 per cent overweight women in India at present and it is going to be 50 per cent in another 10 years,” said Dr. Surender Kumar, Senior Consultant and Chairman of the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

Stem cell therapy

Dr. Kumar said stem cell therapy in diabetes was making good progress and added that surgery as a therapy for diabetes was now an exciting new possibility for the management of diabetes.

The Chairman of the Board of Management of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, B. K. Rao, said: “The purpose of the conference is to provide a forum to exchange scientific knowledge and personal experiences about the disease. ”