Health

Diabetic Foot Clinic

Greater awareness of diabetes related problems and their prevention is of critical importance, especially in India today. According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), every 30 seconds a person loses a limb to amputation following diabetes complications. To address this grave concern at the village level, Biocon Foundation has part funded a "Mobile Diabetic Foot Care & Vascular Diagnostic Clinic", possibly the only of its kind in the world.  Managed by the Jain Institute of Vascular Sciences, Bangalore, the Clinic caters to those urban and rural areas where most of the patients belong to the lower economic strata. Biocon Foundation has sponsored about 25% of this project with funding covering education materials like booklets, videos for patient counseling, labs like blood sugar, parts of equipment and maintenance. The mobile clinic goes into those rural areas where Biocon Foundation has already built up a relationship with local communities through the Arogya Raksha Yojana program. In addition to screening and treating patients with diabetic foot, the Arogya Raksha physician attends to general healthcare issues.
The Mobile Clinic is completely equipped and staffed to evaluate and treat diabetic foot problems, the main stress being on preventive care. It has the following features/equipments:

1. A bus completely customized for the needs for this unique clinic.
2. A podiatry chair for patient care.
3. An examination couch
4. Equipments for neuropathy (nerve damage) evaluation:

• Sensitometer – VPT, with computer interface
• Sensitometer – HCP, with computer interface
• Monofilaments

5. Equipments for vascular (blood vessel) evaluation:

• Hand held Doppler
• Mini vascular laboratory for physiologic assessment
• A laptop based color duplex scan

6. A computerized foot scanner for abnormal pressure and biomechanical evaluation.
7. A cobbler/footwear area with –

• Heat gun/oven for insole molding
• Buffing machine to help create quality footwear
• Other hand-tools required for creating footwear

8. For minor podiatry procedures:

• A complete set of foot care instruments
• Flash sterilizers for the instruments
• Washing area for the instruments

9. Patient education/counseling materials:

• A large screen TV, DVD/VCD player for screening education videos
• Built in sound system for counseling patient groups
• Patient education booklets and flip charts.

10. For record keeping and data acquisition:

• A laptop and desk top computers, with internal connectivity to all the equipments
• A specially designed software for data acquisition and retrieval

11. For comfort of the staff of the clinic, who will travel 20 days a month:

• The mobile clinic, fully air-conditioned, even when parked.
• Provisions for aqua guard, microwave, mini refrigerator.
• Comfortable seating during travel.