Insulin pump used at 10,000 ft to treat 12-yr-old diabetic girl in Lahaul & Spiti

Dipender Manta

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Tribune News Service

Mandi, August 19

Dr Jatinder Kumar Mokta, Professor, Medicine, IGMC, Shimla, achieved a rare feat for the treatment of a type 1 diabetes patient by using for the first time an insulin pump at an altitude of 10,000 feet in Lahaul & Spiti.

Dr Mokta said, “An insulin pump was installed to a little girl aged 12 years at Keylong on March 12 this year. A regular followup of the girl revealed that her fasting glucose level had come down and ranged between 110-130 mg/dl and post-meal glucose was between 150-170 mg/dl. She has now been playing with her friends and her parents are very happy.”

“It was a major challenge to keep the insulin safe for medical treatment in the freezing temperature but I devised a locally applicable indigenous method to keep the insulin at an appropriate temperature in the freezing winter,” he said.

He said, “Earlier this year, the girl had visited me at the IGMC, Shimla. She had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of six and had been taking multiple insulin injections since then. Her mother used to visit her daily at her school to inject the day-time insulin.”