BAGUIO CITY—The number of diabetes cases in the country is still growing, and the failure of about half the people suffering from the disease to know their condition is considered alarming, a consultant of the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center said Tuesday.
About seven percent of the urban population has diabetes compared to four percent in rural areas, said Dr. Francis Pizarro, who consults with the BGHMC Department of Internal Medicine.
From 2012 to 2015, Pizarro said more than 1,200 patients were admitted to the hospital for diabetes-related cases annually, which represents about 4 percent of the total hospital admissions every year.
“We call on the public to sustain a healthy lifestyle to combat the serious negative effects of the two types of diabetes that might affect their health condition,” the doctor said. “Unfortunately, some 50 percent of those with diabetes do not know that they already have the disease, thus, the importance of undergoing the medical checkup to detect the illnesses they are suffering from.”
