Commentary on the first hundred cases seen at the Mosta diabetes clinic

Abstract

This modern clinic, situated in the Civic Centre of Mosta, is an offshoot of the six year old one at the Out Patient Department of St. Luke's Hospital; the Medical and Health Department and the Order of St. John have been jointly responsible for staffing and equipping it. The patients attending mainly come from the northwesterly part of Malta but the clinic is open to all. Remarkable factors in relation to diabetes, as observed in the first 100 patients of the Mosta diabetes clinic, such as the criterion used to detect this disease, overweight, the way patients discover their illness, hereditary aspects, eyesight problems, diabetic neuropathy and complications encountered are discussed. Furthermore, it is emphasized that diabetes can be controlled and also rendered less dangerous if treated with skill guided by laboratory tests. Haphazard treatment with an occasional blood glucose level test will not succeed, except in the very mild cases that after all can be managed by strict dietary control.