Friends 0f the Manx Diabetes Centre

Asked what she would like to see done to improve the Manx Diabetes Centre, without hesitation she replied “more staff” as for the throughput of patients they require more personnel in certain of their departments.

She felt that it was most important to ensure that all patients get the message that they must keep their appointments.

The keeping of appointments she emphasised was in the patients interests and essential to their long term wellbeing.

Her hobbies when she has a chance to relax is her family, reading and music, and to this effect she is sent books and music from India in her own regional language.

Dr. Krishnan is married to Dr. Krishnan, who is also a Staff Grade Physician at Noble's Hospital and they have an eight year old daughter who attends school at Marown.

Her next objectives are to get comprehensive training in diabetes and endocrinology and general medicine.

The Diabetic and the Friends of the Manx Diabetes Centre would like to take this opportunity to wish Dr Krishnan and her family well in all their endeavours, and we are sure that all diabetic patients attending the Diabetes Centre will find her advice productive, and to their benefit and long term wellbeing.

A full curriculum vitae of Dr. Amutha Krishnan will be available shortly on our website at www.diabetes.org.im on our profile page.

Why you need a regular HbA1c test

As you may recollect the Friends of the Manx Diabetes Centre presented the Manx Diabetes Centre with a £3.000 HbA1c blood testing machine last November.

This machine is all important to the Centre as it measures the long term blood sugar of diabetic patients which is very important in their diabetes care, as it will indicate how well controlled your diabetes readings are over the past three months.

As you may be aware the blood in your body is composed amongst other things of red blood cells (these are the ones that carry oxygen) and white blood cells, (these white cells are the ones that fight infections).

When you eat, the sugar that you ingest and digest enters you red blood cells, and as our “Budding Journalist” explained in an earlier issue get attached to the red blood cells.

Therefore the HbA1c machine can measure how much sugar gets attached to the red blood cells and shows them as a percentage reading for the last three months.

The recommendation from the Manx Diabetes Centre is that if this percentage is between 6.6 and 7 then you are all right. but if it is over 7 then your doctor will tighten your controls.

That is why this machine is vital to the Centre, as it gives a reading to ensure your control can be made tighter if necessary and thereby monitor your sugar levels better.

Regular checkups with this new machine that the Centre now has been presented with, is very important to your blood sugar control.

This, as you will know is also done for you when you have an appointment at the Manx Diabetes Centre and are sent to the Blood Clinic a week prior to your appointment.

So now there is no excuse for you not to know your HbA1c number when you next visit the Manx Diabetes Centre. If it is not done at the Blood Clinic they will do it for you on the spot.