Asian Hospital holds one-day diabetes course

MANILA, Philippines - To keep up with the latest in diabetes treatment and management, Asian Hospital and Medical Center, through its Department of Surgery-Section of Minimally Invasive Surgery and Department of Medicine-Section of Endocrinology, is holding a one-day course on the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus on Friday, September 23, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Conference Facility Unit, lower ground floor of the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

Serving as the course’s keynote speaker and guest faculty is Dr. Chin-Kun Huang, director of the Bariatric and Metabolic International Surgery Center, E-da Hospital, I-shou University, in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Aside from the lectures on medical management, multi-disciplinary treatments, and metabolic and bariatric surgery, Dr. Chin-Kun Huang is also performing two live surgeries for the attendees, a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy, and laparoscopic gastric banding. 

The one-day course is also a multidisciplinary affair involving the fields of psychiatry, nutrition, and nursing care, and aims to discuss current trends in managing type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Philippines.

The course is open to surgeons, endocrinologists, internists, psychiatrists, nutritionists/dietitians, family medicine practitioners, nurses, and diabetic patients.

Diabetes mellitus is a disease where the body either does not produce enough insulin or ignores the insulin in one’s system. Insulin is a hormone needed to metabolize sugar, in order to maintain normal glucose levels in the body, and if the body does not have enough insulin or is resistant to insulin, glucose builds up in the bloodstream and causes complications. There are two kinds of diabetes, Type 1 (known as juvenile-onset diabetes) and Type 2 (known as adult-onset diabetes), and it can be inherited if one has a relative who has had the disease. The risk for diabetes is also higher with overweight people, with adults 45 years old and above, and with people whose blood sugar level is higher than normal.

In the Philippines, as of 2008, there are 3.5 million Filipinos afflicted with diabetes, and there are an estimated eight-percent of the population who are prediabetics, or are likely to develop diabetes within a few years.

Interested parties can register on site, with a P800 fee for residents and nurses, and a P1,500 fee for consultants and guests. For reservations and inquiries, call Chickie Lopez at 771-1203 or 09178227464, or check out www.asianhospital.com.