In the Cher, a diabetes screening device offered free of charge in pharmacies

According to Public Health France, diabetes affects 3.5 million people and causes more than 30,000 deaths per year in France. South of the Cher, the professional territorial health community (CPTS) has set up a diabetes screening operation among its inhabitants. Completely free, this approach aims to reach the 30% of people who do not have access to a general practitioner in this area of ​​42,000 inhabitants, considered a medical desert.

This operation consists of two stages: a questionnaire, offered to the customer in the pharmacy in order to identify a potential presence of the pathology, then a blood sugar test which will be measured on site. “I think it’s a good method, especially for people who are not informed”, confides the customer of one of the four pharmacies of Saint-Amand Montond concerned. This initiative, which takes place during the months of October and November, remains open to everyone from the age of 18.

In the operation deployment area, a third of people with diabetes find out about it when complications appear. Detecting earlier therefore makes it possible to limit serious forms. “It’s an insidious disease, people can live for years without noticing that they have diabetes. Every year we have patients who discover their diabetes when they have become practically blind”, explains Marie-Laure Ouairy, pharmacist.

If the blood sugar test detects a potential presence of diabetes, the patients are then redirected to a laboratory. His mission will be to confirm this result and to carry out additional examinations. “If diabetes is confirmed, we contact the doctor in charge of the patient to assess the risk factors”, details a doctor from the laboratory. A prevention and management system that would help reduce the average age of diagnosis of diabetes in France, estimated at 60 years.