Diabetic Earthquake Victims in Nepal get Insulin

It's been about a month since the first massive earthquake rocked Nepal, killing more than 8,000 people, wounding many more, and causing millions of dollars in damage to buildings and infrastructure. Aftershocks and another massive earthquake continued in the wake of emergency response crews mobilizing and the ongoing search for survivors.

The earthquakes and destruction make simple tasks of daily living (food, shelter, clothing, water) difficult for many exposed to Mother Nature's fury. It also interrupted the critical supply of insulin to people living with diabetes and a way to keep it refrigerated to preserve it.

Fortunately, when Indian Minister of State and Professor of Diabetes and Endocrinology Dr. Jitendra Singh, heard about the earthquake and knew the predicament insulin-dependent diabetics would be in, he organized a relief effort to help.

Leveraging a partnership with the government of India and Novo Nordisk India, Singh arranged to have 75,000 vials of insulin sent to Nepal for free to help earthquake victims manage their blood sugar levels and prevent the disease from causing complications that can be prevented.

Singh also said medical aid wouldn't stop with providing vials of insulin. With a long-standing and good-will partnership between India and Nepal, Singh said other medical supplies would be available if needed and urged other countries to participate in providing medical aid.

If you have diabetes and require insulin to manage your condition, do you have a personal emergency preparedness plan? For example, in a power-outage, a backup generator could keep your refrigerator and freezer running to protect your insulin supply and keep food frozen or refrigerated. Having the right foods and adequate water in storage, could also help you manage diabetes until circumstances improved.