Vyara Vragova of the patient organization “Type 2 diabetes” said that the General Practitioners neglect the problem of type 2 diabetes. According to her the General Practitioners “do not pay much attention” to the possible diabetic symptoms. “It is no secret that the medical check-ups do not actually take place”, she said. Vragova indicated also waiting for access to a specialist as a problem.

“The access to specialists is limited because of administrative procedures,” said the endocrinologist from Hospital “Alexandrovska” Dr. Natalia Temelkova. “At the moment due to different administrative procedures actually in type 2 diabetes the specialist is not required – something against which we professionals protest,” she said, adding that the next frame agreement must be changed. “The diabetes, I think, should be exclusive duty of the endocrinologists,” she said explicitly.

Dr. Temelkova presented statistics that about 435 000 people in our country with diabetes, which our health care system “knows” – the number of people who use the services of the NHIF. She said that a cignificant number of patients, however, buy their own drugs, especially in the early stages of diabetes and outside the register. According to her, the likely total number of diabetics in the country is about 600 000 people.

For 2013, the total number of people with diabetes worldwide is estimated at 382 million. She sais that about 175 million are undiagnosed, adding that according to forecasts by 2030 the number of people with this disease will increase by 40%.

Dr Temelkova said that 80% of the people with diabetes are from countries with medium and low economic development. Diabetes is the most common cause of blindness, chronic renal failure, for the non-traumatic amputations of the lower limbs. She pointed out that in these patients, the incidence of stroke is two to four times greater, and eight of ten diabetics die of cardiovascular disease.

On the occasion of the World Day against diabetes on November 14^th in Bulgaria began a massive information campaign “Openly about Diabetes” with special focus on the balanced diet.