RIYADH, 14 November 2007 — A 24-year-old Saudi youth, who has been suffering from diabetes since the age of five, believes that with necessary precautions diabetic people can still live happily.
Talal Hashim was speaking to newsmen at the launch of the Arabic language version of the “MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time Insulin Pump and Continuous Glucose Monitoring System” here yesterday, a day before World Diabetes Day.
“My father taught me how to live with the disease and I did not encounter any difficulties in enjoying myself along with my friends during my school and college days,” Hashim said, pointing out that the worst thing that could happen to a diabetic is when he gets frightened of the malady.
Hashim, a banker by profession, has been using the English version of the insulin pump for the past five years.
“The new Arabic language pump will be user-friendly for Saudis and their children who are in need of insulin regularly,” he said.
Paradigm REAL-Time Arabic Insulin Pump was launched by Medtronic Mediterranean with its Saudi partner Salehiya Establishment.
Speaking to Arab News, Dr. Bassam ibn Abbas, consultant endocrinology and diabetes at the Pediatric Department of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital, (KFSH) said that his hospital distributes the machine free-of-charge to children in need.
Describing the insulin pump as a progressive therapy available for patients who use insulin to treat diabetes, Dr. Abbas said it is the first integrated insulin therapy to display real-time continuous glucose readings and trend graphs, allowing patients to make immediate self-management decisions to improve their glucose control after confirming readings with a finger-stick measurement.
“In order to manage diabetes properly, patients must continually understand what affects their glucose patterns and take action to regain control as quickly as possible,” Dr. Abbas said.
“Taking immediate corrective or preventive action can help patients maintain healthy glucose levels in order to delay or prevent diabetes-related complications, including coma, blindness, kidney failure, amputation, impotence and heart disease,” he said. The MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time System integrates an external insulin pump with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The system’s glucose sensor takes as many as 288 daily glucose readings per day, providing nearly 100 times more information than three daily finger-stick readings provide.
An insulin pump is a small pager-size device that delivers insulin around the clock. It is the most advanced method for precise and adjustable insulin delivery. Unlike injection therapy, pump users can program their pump to deliver insulin at varying rates to meet their changing insulin needs.
