Dharamshala: Under the Department of Health’s initiative, Tibetan communities around India marked World Diabetes Day on November 14 2023, with a specific emphasis on monasteries and nunneries. For many years, the department has been involved in a variety of health-related initiatives. Nonetheless, the department has focused particularly on monks and nuns this time around in response to the Department of Religion and Culture’s suggestions from the 14th Tibetan Religious Conference.

Numerous activities were organised by the Department to promote early detection, one of which was a free random blood sugar test (RBST) that was specifically targeted at monks and nuns who were over 35 and had no history of diabetes. Awareness lectures were offered by integration doctors from the allopathic and sorig disciplines, and blood sugar levels being measured by RBS tests, aided in the diagnosis of diabetes and predibetes. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provides funding for this programme.

-Report filed by the Department of Health