In Pic: Mr. Gagan Balla, CEO, Apollo Sugar Clinic, Ms. Preetha Reddy, Vice Chairperson, Apollo Hospitals, Dr. Venkataraman, Senior Consultant, Apollo Hospitals and Dr. Santharam, Senior Consultant, Apollo Hospitals
Apollo Hospitals Group and Apollo Sugar Clinics Organize International Diabetes Update (IDU 2017) in Chennai
23rd June 2017, Chennai: Apollo Hospitals Group and Apollo Sugar Clinics to organize IDU-2017 – The International Diabetes Update at ITC Grand Chola, Chennai on 24th & 25th June. The theme of this year’s conference is Diabetes Management in the Era of Personalized Care.
The conference will be inaugurated by Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, Founder Chairman Apollo Hospitals Group, Vice Chairperson Ms. Preetha Reddy, and Mr. Gagan Bhalla CEO, Apollo Sugar Clinics. On this occasion, Dr. Dr. Harold E Lebovitz, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, State University of New York Health Sciences Center would be awarded the Dr. Prathap C. Reddy Gold Medal for Excellence in Diabetes Care and Lifetime Achievement Award 2017.
IDU 2017. International Diabetes Update is a unique forum that will positively transform Diabetes Care and Management in India. With scientific sessions lead by international and national opinion leaders, we bring the best research outcomes into the realms of clinical practice. Through dissemination of innovative ideas, the best practices in diabetes care and the latest pharmacotherapies involved, numerous healthcare practitioners would be equipped to provide diabetes care with the best possible outcomes.
By discussing contemporary pressing issues in Diabetes care like better outcomes, improvement of patient care, providing personalized and individual care, and the role of mobile technologies to improve patient outcomes, delegates would gain transformational insights that directly translate into an improved patient experience in the clinical practice setup.
Commenting on this year’s IDU 2017, the Honorable Founder, Chairman Apollo Hospitals Group Dr. Prathap C. Reddy said that, “India is fast becoming the Diabetes capital of the world. Our country faces an uncertain future on the potential burden that NCDs like Diabetes will impose upon the country. Experts estimate that the cost of overall NCD burden to India will be approx. 8 Trillion dollars in 2030 – approx. the same size as our country’s GDP currently. Diabetes risk factors and complications contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality in the country – Today, over 69 million diabetes and 30 million pre-diabetes cases exist in India, and over half of them are undetected. About 1.3 million people died from diabetes and associated complications in our country.”
Emphasizing the need for technological breakthroughs and innovations in diabetes management Dr. Prathap C. Reddy said, “We believe it is our responsibility at Apollo Hospitals to innovate a new model of care and fight this large disease burden in an effective and efficient manner. Hence, we have dedicated the vertical of Apollo Sugar Clinics to world class Diabetes care, which over the last 2.5 years has built a network of 55 clinics, and has effectively treated 2.5 lakh Diabetic patients, and screened over 6 Lakh citizens across the nation.”
Reiterating Apollo Hospitals’ responsibility towards fighting diabetes, he said, “Apollo Hospitals has always been at the forefront of bringing quality healthcare backed by the latest advances in research across the world. Through our dedicated Diabetes and Endocrinology vertical, Apollo Sugar Clinic, we understand the need for the latest research outcomes to be implemented in clinical practice in order to manage diabetes better and to reduce the risk of complications involved. It is a mission and a responsibility for us to provide exceptional diabetes care. That’s why we are organizing the IDU-2017 conference.”
He said that, “IDU-2017 is a discourse on the latest scientific advancements in diabetes care and its implementation in clinical practice. With over 1000 delegates in attendance, and a generous blend of international and national key opinion leaders, the conference is a great opportunity for medical practitioners and in turn their patients.”
Urging all the participants of the conference to come up with a unique personalized care model to fight diabetes, Dr. Prathap C. Reddy said, “With key international experts like Dr. Harold Lebovitz from New York, Dr. Mudaliar from San Diego, California and our experts like Dr. Wangnoo from Delhi, Dr. Shashank Joshi from Mumbai, Dr. Shantaram, Dr. Seshadri, and Dr. Venkatraman from Chennai, Dr. Mehrotra from Hyderabad, Dr. Dwarkanath from Bangalore, Dr. Tirtankar Chaudhary from Kolkata, we have the best series of experts on Diabetes here to discuss the latest advances in Diabetes care in a collaborative discourse with all clinical practitioners across India. I urge them to put their collective knowledge, expertise and teamwork to find a model of personalized care that will rid our nation of the significant disease burden of Diabetes that we face and achieve my vision of making living with diabetes a disease free lifestyle for every citizen of India.”
In the same meet, Vice Chairperson Ms. Preetha Reddy mentioned that Apollo Hospitals were dedicated to fight the NCD cause and the direct consequence of that resolve was the growth of its Diabetes vertical Apollo Sugar Clinics. She said that, “Apollo Hospitals has always been at the forefront of bringing quality healthcare backed by the latest advances in research across the world. We believe it is our responsibility to innovate a new model of care and curtail this large disease burden in an effective and efficient manner. This is why over 2.5 years ago, we had created a dedicated vertical called Apollo Sugar Clinics in partnership with Sanofi, a global leader in Diabetes to innovate world class Diabetes and Endocrine care in our country. Over the last few years, we have built a network of 55 Sugar clinics, and have effectively treated 2.5 lakh Diabetic patients.
We screened over 6 Lakh citizens across the nation and detected approx. 1.5 lakhs new cases of Diabetes and helped them and their families to undergo appropriate care counselling. Our clinical results from Apollo Sugar are very promising and world class. We have designed integrated care programs that combine the right set of clinical and lifestyle interventions in a evidence based protocol from our doctors both in our clinics and beyond our clinics for 24/7 access to care via technology and expert call centres to serve our patients. Our annual care program, Sugar 360 has helped people benefit from HbA1c reduction from 10 to 6.5 in 150 days – these are results that are comparable to the best in the world. Our digital health capabilities to coach, counsel, engage patients using expert health coaches, and a diabetes management call centres are highly efficient and scalable to serve large population of Indian citizens.”
Speaking on the IDU 2017 she said, “The International Diabetes Update 2017 is part of our continual effort to bring about a revolution in Diabetes Management and Care. This year’s theme for the conference is “Diabetes Management in the Era of Personalized Care”. IDU-2017 will be a discourse on the latest scientific advancements in diabetes care and its implementation in clinical practice. With over 1000 delegates in attendance, and a generous blend of international and national key opinion leaders, the conference is a great opportunity for medical practitioners and in turn their patients. Key international experts like Dr. Harold Lebovitz from New York, Dr. Mudaliar from San Diego, California and our own experts are coming together to discuss the latest advances in Diabetes care in a collaborative discourse with all clinical practitioners across India. I urge them today to put their collective knowledge, expertise and teamwork with all of you to work together to find a model of personalized care that will rid our nation of the significant disease burden of Diabetes that we face and achieve our Chairman Dr. Reddy’s vision of making living with diabetes a disease free lifestyle for every citizen of India.”
Mr.GaganBhalla, CEO, Apollo Sugar Clinics said, “We are proud to host the IDU-2017 in Chennai. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the consultants from across the country who have taken time out to mark their presence in this unique conference. The aim of this conference is to improve knowledge and skills of consultants thus enabling them to provide the most effective and advanced diabetes care to patients. Presently, our programs focus on preventive healthcare is designed to provide advanced standards of services and facilities for diabetes care.”
As a passionate crusader against diabetes, Mr.GaganBhalla has been working incessantly to create an ecosystem of specialized diabetes care in various parts of the country. Sharing his vision for the future he said, “We plan to expand to more clinics across tier ii and tier iii cities by the end of FY 17-18.In India, our flagship program Sugar-360 is a success across all our centres and is benefiting millions of customers. We hope our centre of excellence will be a path changer in diabetes management. Our clinics are equipped with a highly trained, experienced and compassionate team of doctors; apart from this we also have multi-disciplinary care team members including specialised dieticians, educators, and diabetes trained nurses.”
Stressing on the need for beyond the clinic management of diabetes, Mr.GaganBhalla said that, “We have taken up numerous initiatives to create awareness on diabetes. Apart from that, we have made it a point to spread the message of healthy eating and physical activity. We don’t believe in a care that is confined to clinics. We believe that our diabetes care is a trusted ally for a patient to rely upon.”
