India’s largest online doctor platform, Lybrate offered free blood tests for Diabetes this World Health Day

In its bid to encourage a preventive mindset among people around Diabetes this World Health Day, Lybrate, India’s first and largest online doctor consultation platform, has partnered with Metropolis Labs, to offer free blood sugar test for three days till April 9 in four cities, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

“It is mainly about spreading awareness. Many people don’t know they are diabetic. About 50% are undiagnosed. We expect by the end of three days about 15000 people will turn up,” said Saurabh Arora, Founder & CEO, Lybrate.

Diabetes is playing havoc among Indians with around 63 million people of the 1.2 billion populations suffering from the disease, as per the recent announcement by the World Health Organization (WHO) that announced statistics for 2013. Medical experts put the current figure at around 67 million while they say around 50% cases remain undiagnosed due to lack of proper screening. Diabetes is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, stroke, blindness and disability.

As per the analysis of around half a million interactions that happened on the topic of Diabetes on the Lybrate platform, around 57% people in Tier 2 cities, including Ahmedabad, Jaipur and Indore, raised queries about Diabetes prevention, while 35% in urban areas wanted to know about the same in Tier 1 cities. These interactions took place on the Lybrate platform over a period of 15 months, starting January 1 last year when the app was launched.

“Diabetes is a major health problem in the country. And at a time when it is posing a major health risk to the Indian population, these statistics are very important as they would play a pertinent role in devising key policies around Diabetes prevention,” said Saurabh.

Common queries that are being asked from Tier 2 cities are on how to prevent Diabetes, diet and exercise, types of the disease, and its gestational form. On the other hand, queries that people in metros put up are on dealing with the disease.

To help people understand the disease better and create awareness, Lybrate is also conducting ‘Lybrate – Ask the Specialist’ with renowned endocrinologist Dr S K Wangnoo of Apollo Hospital, Delhi on World Health Day. Indian Medical Association (IMA), of which Lybrate is the digital partner, provides the faculty for the initiative.

(Image credits: WHO)