Gujarat becomes first state in India to allocate nearly $2 million for diabetes treatment

On February 24,^, 2023, Gujarat declared it was allocating Rupees 13.88 crores for treatment of diabetes. In current exchange rate, that amounts to approximately $1,697,224.  The announcement was made during the presentation of the state budget in the state Vidhan Sabha.

Drs. Smita Joshi and her sister Dr. Shukla Rawal, both from Gujarat, stated that the funds would be used to provide insulin injections and other treatments to diabetic children. Juvenile diabetes is very common in India which has the largest number of diabetic children in the world, followed by the United States.

Dr. Smita Joshi and members of her family have become the face of spreading awareness about diabetes, one of the major diseases affecting children in India, but also identified among the top chronic conditions diagnosed among Indian-Americans and South Asians in the United States.

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“To fight against any disease, awareness is the only weapon we have. We saw that in the pandemic,” Dr. Joshi said during her Sept. 6, 2022, interview on ITV Gold. In fact, diabetes is a major cause of blindness, heart attacks, and kidney-related problems, she said.