In May, a diabetic foot room (DFR) was launched in Mykolayiv regional clinical hospital with the support of Farmak Charitable Fund. The project investments totaled over UAH 86 thousand.
All the necessary equipment was purchased, namely, a modern pedicure chair, a pedicure cabinet with built-in UV block for sterile storage of instruments, foot handling apparatus, a special magnifying glass light, a table for instruments, and a thermosterilizer. Dedicated training was provided for medical staff working in the DFR.
The newly launched diabetic foot room provides competent assistance and consulting of diabetic patients from Mykolayiv city and all over Mykolayiv region.
Mykolayiv’s DFR became the tenth one launched by Farmak.
The Ukrainian pharmaceutical manufacturer began its social investments in launching diabetic foot rooms more than 10 years ago. Within 2003-2005 Farmak provided DFRs, existing in Ukraine, with all the required equipment made in Ukraine. Since 2008, Italian equipment has been purchased, and additional portable Dopplers (devices to determine vascular blood flow) have been supplied in all rooms.
The Company initiated a social project to launch diabetic foot rooms in 2008. The first one was launched in the same year in Sumy regional hospital.
Pavlo Lukashevych, Hospital Sales Marketing Department at Farmak, says, “Diabetic foot room is worth to be launched if the regional medical establishment, on the base of which the DFR will be launched, and the chief endocrinologist are truly interested in, as far as, DFR influences on the endocrinologic service performance in the region; and on condition that there are specialists, who will work in DFR, namely, a doctor (as a general rule, an endocrinologist trained as a surgeon or chiropodist, or a vascular surgeon, or a surgeon with experience in septic wounds) and a nurse who is to perform the most of the procedures with patients’ feet, independently, without the doctor’s intervention. We provide their special training, cover the expenses on chiropody diabetic patients assistance courses”.
Within the framework of the “Diabetic Foot Room” social project, Farmak has launched 10 rooms in different regions of Ukraine: Luhansk, Donetsk, Kyiv, Bila Tserkva, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Poltava, Kharkiv, Sumy and Mykolayiv. Eight of them were launched “from scratch” – from renovation to procurement and installation of the necessary equipment. For 2 rooms was purchased the equipment, namely, a diabetic chair for one and a pedicure machine for the other. As of now, more than UAH 1 million was invested in launching and equipping of the diabetic foot rooms.
Farmak intends to launch two more rooms by the end of 2014.
Diabetes is an endocrine-metabolic disease characterized by chronic hyperglycemia, which is associated with absolute or relative insulin deficiency and develops as a result of various endocrine, immune, exogenous (stress, smoking, infection) factors. The 21st century makes the problem of diabetes not only generally biological, but social as well. This is because the pathology ranks third (after cancer and atherosclerosis) among the diseases that are the most common causes of disability and mortality. Diabetes occupies a considerable part, up to 70%, in the structure of endocrine diseases. A steady upward trend in the number of patients is observed.
An upward trend in the number of diabetic patients is typical for Ukraine as well. According to the MOHU, almost 1.5 million diabetic patients are currently registered in the country. The WHO Expert Committee on Diabetes notes that diabetes leads to an increase in the number and severity of lesions of vital organs and systems, namely, the cardiovascular system, the nervous system and kidneys.
Many diabetic patients (8%, according to the WHO) have specific lesions of the feet, which is described in the literature as “diabetic foot syndrome”. The diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is a specific symptom complex of lesions of the feet as a complete anatomical and functional structures against the backdrop of diabetes, the pathogenesis of which is based on diabetic micro-and macropathies, peripheral neuropathy and osteoarthropathy developing in parallel with purulent necrotic processes of varying degree of prevalence, characterized by a special structure of microflora and occurring against a background of metabolic immunosuppression.
In 5% of cases this pathology is the cause of amputations of the lower limbs, resulting in significant invalidization and impairment of the patient's quality of life. In 2013, 3098 amputations due to diabetes were conducted in Ukraine. Postoperative mortality was almost 7% (which is relatively high). Therefore, early detection, treatment and mandatory prevention of diabetic complications are a key to improving the lives of patients with diabetes. Doctors in DFRs are engaged in prevention and treatment of this pathology. High-quality and modern equipment significantly improve the level of skilled care to patients and contributes to its effectiveness.
