‘Each diabetic may get different treatment in future'

Endocrinologist Shashank Joshi said using digital tools can continuously measure a patient’s blood sugar levels, his or her level of happiness or stress as well as sleep patterns. “It could be a smart watch, for instance,” said the doctor.

- Malathy Iyer

Mumbai: In the past five years, digital aids have been helping doctors and researchers tackle diabetes. Consider Navi Mumbai-based pediatric surgeon Arbinder Singhal who, after being diagnosed as pre-diabetic, tied up with a health-tech company to build 24x7 blood sugar monitors.

Embedding the monitors just under the skin helps chart out the patient’s blood sugar levels over the day, showing spikes and drops. People can then fine-tune their diet to ensure sugar levels are always in the normal range.