6.4% pregnant women have diabetes: AMC survey

Due to a spurt in a lifestyle change, there is an increased chance of diabetes during pregnancy. The health department of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has surveyed 26,811 pregnant women since January 2017, of which 1,734 were detected with diabetes.

Pregnant women who have never had diabetes before but who have high blood glucose (sugar) levels during pregnancy are said to have gestational diabetes. "We are running a project to detect GDM (Gestational Diabetes Mellitus) in urban and rural Ahmedabad. 

We have started it in December and detection was started in January to check the level of diabetes during pregnancy," said Dr Himanshu Naik, in-charge project coordinator, AMC.

"In the urban areas, we screened 26,811 pregnant women, of whom 1,734 were detected with GDM. This is around 6.4 per cent in AMC limit while in rural areas, 5.5% women were detected with GDM," added Dr Naik.

AMC plans to spread awareness about diabetes among women. This year's theme in World Diabetes Day is Women and Diabetes. 

AMC organised a rally from LG Hosptial to Kankaria and back.

"For awareness, we have organised a rally with medical students of AMC college on Tuesday. Many a times, diabetes lasts only till pregnancy," said Dr Naik