The 850,000 people living with diabetes in Quebec will soon be able to benefit from the work of the Center of Expertise on Diabetes, which was created at the Center hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).
One of the most common chronic diseases in the country, diabetes will cost the Canadian health care system $ 31 million this year. And within 10 years, “the number of Canadians living with diabetes will reach an unbearable level that no health system can support,” said the CHUM in a press release.
The center’s goal will be to develop new therapies, improve disease prevention, treatment and screening, and promote research, among other things. The team will draw in particular on the expertise of the team of 25 endocrinologists from the CHUM. “We want to go further in understanding the mechanisms of the disease,” said the CEO of the CHUM, Fabrice Brunet.
Present for the launch of the Center of Expertise, the Minister of Health Christian Dubé, mentioned that the government intends to connect all Quebec households to high speed internet by 2022. And with this connection, the services offered by the Center of Expertise on Diabetes will be able to serve all of Quebec and not just Montreal.
For Mr. Dubé, the pandemic will have made it possible to realize “the importance of prevention”. He announced the government’s intention to invest more in this sector.