Algeria: Over 200,000 diabetes patients risk amputation

200,000 patients were at risk of getting their limbs amputated due to acute diabetes Algiers – Hussein Boussalah Frightening numbers were announced by the head of the Algerian Federation of Diabetes Associations, Nourredine Boucetta, who said 200,000 patients were at risk of getting their limbs amputated due to acute diabetes.
The patients' limbs do not heal fast enough as the required medicines were not produced in large enough quantities due to the increasing yearly demand.
Boucetta added in a previous statement to the Alegrian News Agency: “The Algerian authorities must speed up providing suitable quantities of the medicines that are supposed to heal the injuries quickly to avoid decay and prevent amputation.”
He also explained that the medication was available in all the hospitals in the form of injections given to the patients, even those without insurance.
Many patients with diabetes try herbal remedies, which do not always work and may lead to the amputation of certain limbs to prevent the patient from dying. Boucetta insisted on the importance of settling patients' health insurance so that they could get the right treatment.
Meanwhile, Boucetta stressed  the importance of the role of the Ministry of Health to find a way out for people with diabetes who are not socially insured, especially children who are subject to serious complications.
Over three million Algerians have diabetes, of whom 25 percent suffer from the first degree variety that requires insulin treatment. Every year, between 10,000 and 20,000 new patients are registered.