Diabetes is a global epidemic.
At the moment, there are several hundred million people on the planet with diabetes, myself included.
At the risk of sounding heartless, I see this as an opportunity. A medical tourism opportunity for West Bengal.
When I was diagnosed diabetic I barely knew what the disease was. Although I had head of a pancreas, I had no idea what function it played in the body.
I am willing to bet that a fairly high percentage diabetics were just as ignorant as I was when they got the bad news.
The first question I asked when I was diagnosed was, “How do I cure it?” Well, that’s not an easy thing to do, as hundreds of millions of diabetics know.
Short of curing it, I wanted to know, “How do I treat it.”
The simple answer is:
1 – change your diet
2 – exercise more
3 – take your medication
However, a total lifestyle change is not a simple thing to accomplish. Even if you have the will power to change the way you have lived, it is trickier than it seems to be, because diabetes is a complicated disease. And therein lies the opportunity.
Diabetics, newly diagnosed or long suffering, desperately need a one-stop-shop where they can learn about their disease and get it under control. And those that have the money will pay for it.
My idea, then, is to build a state of the art diabetes treatment facility. Make no mistake about it; a treatment and control facility is as important to diabetics as a rehab centre is to drug addicts.
What is needed is a clinic that is also a resort. A place where diabetics can spend a month, or more.
A world class endocrinologist would have to be contracted to develop programs for the patients.
Patients would not only lean what foods are best for diabetics,
they would also learn how to prepare them, so they are tasty.
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Patients would also learn yoga,
and meditation to reduce stress.
The faculty would have a gym,
with a team of instructors.
Patients/guests would also learn about the latest medications for diabetes,
The latest technology would be available.
And perhaps the most important thing is that patients/guests would be removed from the temptations that will only make them sicker,
and surrounded by a support group of peers and professionals
The faculty would have to have world class communications infrastructure,
so guests can stay in touch with loved ones,
and continue to work.
But the facility has to be fun, too. Just because we are treating a disease, it doesn’t mean patients can’t have fun.
There should be pets.
Guests should be able to play music,
make art,
dance,
and play sports.
Guests should be able to go on sightseeing tours,
watch movies,
and just hang out with new friends.
There is a line from a famous baseball book, titled Shoelaces Joe,,
(the book was made into a Hollywood film, titled Field of Dreams)
The line is, “If you build it, they will come.”
If we build the kind of resort/clinic that I am talking about, they will come.
And when the first one is a success, build more. Diabetics will come by the tens of thousands.
And they will all be saying, “Shut up and take my money.”
