Hinduja Foundation announces new Type 1 Diabetes Initiative
Mumbai, April 24, 2019: The Hinduja Foundation, responsible for the extensive philanthropic activities of the Hinduja Group, today announces a new four-way partnership with the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) in Chennai, the KEM Hospital and Research Centre in Pune and the P D Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Mumbai.
This new ground-breaking partnership – the first of its kind in India – will provide treatment and support to underprivileged patients of Type 1 Diabetes (previously known as Juvenile Diabetes), build awareness of the condition and support research into the disease. The project currently has more than 500 patients from poorer socio-economic background.
As part of this programme, patients in Chennai, Pune and Mumbai will have access to diagnosis, medical consultation and insulin treatment. All clinical data collected, with the consent of patients, will be used for longitudinal reporting and correlation with disease progression, combined with related research for possible future publication in scientific journals.
Moreover, the clinical data collected, will be pooled to build a comprehensive picture of the Type 1 Diabetes disease profile in India, which will support decision making at the policy level. More importantly, the Program will aim to give a better understanding of the disease’s clinical progression and help clinicians across the country better manage the disease and their patients.
Commenting on the Program, Brig Hari Chukerbuti, Executive Vice President, Hinduja Foundation, said: “We are pleased to announce our partnership with the P D Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre in Mumbai, KEM Hospital in Pune and MDRF in Chennai, and thank both Dr. Mohan and Dr. Yajnik for their leadership and yeomen service to the cause of Diabetes prevention, awareness and treatment. This new partnership, to improve the quality of life of T1D patients, encompasses the Hinduja Group’s values and ethos of ‘My Dharma (Duty) is to work, so that I can give.”
Dr. V Mohan, a Padma Shri awardee, Director of MDRF said: “Type 1 Diabetes is Insulin dependent Diabetes that primarily affects children and young adults. This has received limited attention in the scientific and clinical communities in India and there are very few initiatives in the country to support research on and management of the disease. One of the challenges that I found by looking at our data is the very high dropout rates because many of these Type 1 patients are poor and cannot afford either the investigations or the insulin.’’
Adding further, Dr V Mohan said, “I am therefore very happy that the Hinduja Foundation has come forward to support the follow up of these patients with Type 1 Diabetes so that we can ensure that they also have a long and healthy life despite the disease. Importantly we will also collect data on mortality, and the prevalence of complications of diabetes. This data will be very useful to the clinical community for better understanding the disease, and on planning better disease management for our patients. Through this project, we will also be able to call back patients who have dropped out of treatment, and offer them investigations and insulin injections as appropriate. “
Dr. Yajnik, Director, Diabetes Centre, KEM Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, said: “At our Diabetes center at KEM, we have many hundreds of Type 1 Diabetes patients that come for a follow up at least once a year, and lesser numbers come frequently. Till now we have struggled with supporting treatment of T1D; a major stumbling block has been the cost of the investigations and Insulin because many can’t afford it, but that will now be removed, thanks to the support from the Hinduja Foundation. So far, academics had taken a back seat. I am very happy that we will now introduce serial, periodic data collection. It will be very good to standardize them across the groups so that we can pool the data with confidence.”
Mr. Gautam Khanna, CEO of PD Hinduja Hospital, Mumbai, said: “Our hospital at Mahim has been instrumental in providing support to patients from the underprivileged sections of Mumbai and neighboring areas, and this program will further enhance these efforts. We are happy to work with MDRF and KEM on this Diabetes Program. I am confident that along with our brilliant team of endocrinologists, this initiative will further foster the culture of research and collaboration and help patients in keeping with the values of our founder.”
