Dr. Brimah Kassim
Leading Medical Health Practitioner here has underscored the seriousness of effective Diabetic foot care on Montserrat.
Dr. Brimah Kassim, speaking on the topic ‘Feet for Life’ at a Podiatry Info Evening with Mrs. Angela Davis, Podiatrist, out of Antigua, said: “Diabetes is one of the leading health issues worldwide.”
The evening at the Cultural Centre was organised as part of the Caribscan & Pink Ribbon Charity Week and took place on October 9, 2014. Dr. Kassim said that among the complications of the disease are blindness, heart attack, kidney problems, and amputations.
On November 26, 2013 Nurse Donelda Henry conducted a footcare workshop and she opened by saying, “Today marks the beginning of a new era, all diabetics on island will continue to receive improved diabetic foot care, thereby reaching the ultimate goal of reducing amputations here in Montserrat,”
At the opening of that footcare workshop, Dr. Kassim spoke about the training they had for the workshop. “Coming out of that training we have been able to setup what we have – it’s just the beginning because we still have allot of work to do,” noting, “the world was really concerned about the amount of amputations due to diabetic complications.”
Diabetes, he said, accounted for 24.7% of all hospital admissions between 1999 and 2009 on Montserrat.
At the event on October 9, he pointed out, “not all patients or all Diabetic patients need to see a foot specialist, once we have a proper staff on island well trained they could do the initial assessment.’
He continued: “Because – after the training, the International World Diabetic Foot Group are staying on top of us to report to them what we are doing, every six months and one of the few countries that have actually had successful training is Montserrat. The reason for that is we got funding, some of these countries are not getting any money because of the size and no matter what they have done they are not getting anywhere, even though they got the training. Yes we have been funded by the Ministry of Health, that’s Government of Montserrat and they are still assisting us to continue doing the training and so you have to then go in now seek funds for the advanced training.”
