Abstract
Objective : To assess the coverage of the type 2 diabetes screening program among
the high-risk population in the catchment area of Phonphisai Hospital, Nongkhai Province
before and after the implementation of the application of the Ministry of Public
Health’s operative plan for diabetes screening.
Methodology : The target population comprised residents of the catchment area
aged 40 years and older who were covered by health insurance during the period 2003-
2005. Verbal screening of the Ministry’s Bureau of Non-communicable Disease was used
in the diabetes mellitus screening program. Annual data about the number of the target
population, persons screened, and detected diabetes cases relevant to the catchment area
of Phonphisai Hospital were collected for the years 2003 to 2007. The coverage and prevalence
rates of diabetes mellitus were then analyzed and presented.
Results : The coverage rates of diabetes mellitus (DM) screening in 2003-2004 and
in 2005-2007 and the application of the Ministry’s operative plan for DM screening were
49.76 and 78 percent, respectively. The population with the highest coverage rates were
females and those in the 50-59 year age group. The overall DM prevalence rate during
the period 2005-2007 was 2.46 percent. Detailed analyses showed that males had lower
prevalence rates than females, and the 50-59 age group had the highest DM prevalence
rate compared with the other age groups. Compared with the whole Nongkhai Province,
DM was more/less prevalent in the catchment area of Phonphisai Hospital. The DM
prevalence rates for these two areas for 2005 were 419.02 and 286 per 100,000 population,
respectively.
Conclusions : The application of the Ministry’s operative plan for DM screening
resulted in clarification of its policy and importantly that of the Chief Provincial Health
Officer as well as the vision of the administrator as the Director of the District Hospital
applies to his operating staff with regard to the participation and integration of the community
and to increases in the effectiveness of efforts to detect DM cases in the catchment
area of Phonphisai Hospital. Thus, the Ministry’s operative plan for DM screening should
be continued and applied to other areas.
