The number of diabetics in Azerbaijan has tripled in the last 10 years
Diabetes patients in Azerbaijan
“I had to go to the public hospital because I ran out of money. Every time I go to the state hospital, I regret it.”
Zaur Aliyev is a diabetic. He says that when he felt ill two years ago, doctors at the three public hospitals he visited for check-ups could not diagnose him accurately. Then he underwent an examination a private clinic and was found to have diabetes.
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According to him, after that he lost trust in public hospitals. For almost two years he was treated at his own expense and during this period he never went to a public hospital. But in November 2023, he again had to go to a government hospital:
“My condition suddenly deteriorated in the middle of the street. I guessed that my sugar level had gone up, but my heart started to ache as well. I am being treated at my own expense and the necessary medicines are quite expensive. In the markets, ordinary sugar costs 4-5 manats per kilo [about $3]. In short, I didn’t have enough money. I was forced to go to Polyclinic #16 near our house.“
When he arrived at the polyclinic, he learned that his documents had been lost:
“That’s what they said: ‘No, they are lost.’ It’s like they are stuck in Soviet times. There is no electronic system. Because of the lost documents, I was not registered as a diabetic and did not have a medical examination. I should have been there shouting that I’m a teacher, I’m a scientist, or I should have just paid a bribe to have the problem solved. But I’m not that kind of person. So I had to go to a private clinic again, borrowing money from my relatives.”
“Sometimes the medicines are of poor quality, you have to buy them yourself.”
Gulgez Hasanova, a 75-year-old retired teacher, says she was registered as a diabetic at the polyclinic without any problems. She is now an insulin-dependent diabetic. According to the pensioner, she is provided with the necessary drugs.
“True, to get registered, I had to collect some documents. I went to the dispensary, they diagnosed me, issued a document and on the basis of this document I was registered in our polyclinic. I was provided with a glucometer, monthly test strips, needles, and insulin. But the insulin doesn’t last until the end of the month, or the quality is not very good, the effect is low, and then I have to buy it myself.
Of course, it would be better if they gave better quality drugs. But I am not particularly dissatisfied.”
The number of people with diabetes has almost tripled in 10 years
According to the Statistics Committee, the number of registered diabetes patients in Azerbaijan at this moment is more than 320 thousand people. In 2013, this figure was 120 thousand. This means that over the past 10 years the number of patients with diabetes has increased almost three times.
According to various studies, the number of patients with diabetes mellitus in the countries of the world is increasing, but the growth rate is not as high as in Azerbaijan. According to the World Diabetes Federation, in 2011 in Georgia there were 104 diabetics per 1000 people, while in Azerbaijan the figure was 167. In 2021, it was 397.1 in Azerbaijan and 190.6 in Georgia.
The Federation estimates that by 2045 this number will rise to 573 in Azerbaijan and 179.1 in Georgia. It is also said that this is due to the amount of funding allocated by the state to fight diabetes.
According to information provided by the World Diabetes Federation, the funds spent by Azerbaijan and Georgia on diabetes control are almost the same, although the population of the former is about three times larger than the latter. In Israel, which has about the same population as Azerbaijan, the funds allocated to diabetes control are twice as much as in Azerbaijan.
AZN 58.3 million for the treatment of diabetics
According to the State program for the implementation of the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On State Assistance to People Suffering from Diabetes”, diabetic patients are provided with annual medical assistance, necessary examinations, insulin and other anti-diabetic drugs at the expense of the state.
According to the Ministry of Finance, AZN 58.3 million [about $34.3 million] will be allocated for diabetes control measures in 2024. Given that AZN 53 million [about $31 million] was allocated for the same purpose this year, this means an increase of AZN 5.3 million [about $3.1 million], or 10 percent. In 2018, this figure amounted to AZN 36 million [about $21.1 million].
MP: “It is necessary to increase the budget”
Rashad Mahmudov, deputy chairman of the Health Committee of Milli Majlis, told Modern.az that diabetes is not a simple disease.
“Diabetes mellitus has various serious complications, the most severe of which are diseases of cardiovascular and circulatory system, the first of which are heart attacks and then strokes, kidney diseases, these diseases sometimes lead to leg amputations.
Our country spends quite a lot of money to fight these complications under the program of compulsory health insurance. These funds will increase until the disease itself is not effectively controlled. Therefore it is necessary to increase the financial power of the program necessary to control the disease itself, that is, the timely prevention or treatment of diabetes.
The need to increase the budget is due to the fact that the price of the new class of drugs is higher than the previous ones in the world, and the number of patients with diabetes in our country has increased many times in the last 10 years.”
“Budget calculations take into account the number of patients, but not complications.”
Adil Geybulla, professor of the Surgical Diseases Department of Azerbaijan Medical University, doctor of medical sciences, surgeon, also does not consider the funds allocated to diabetes patients sufficient:
“When calculating the budget, a generalized figure on the number of registered diabetes patients is taken. But it should be taken into account that patients with diabetes can have complications. They lead to loss of working capacity (disability). This means that patients need additional treatment and examination, and the allocated funds are not enough for all this. In such cases, it would be good to provide additional medical care under compulsory medical insurance.”
The budget shortfall manifests itself in a lack of medicines, Geybulla said. According to the doctor’s observation, patients sometimes complain about the lack of medicines needed to maintain normal blood pressure:
“If such problems are not solved, complications among diabetes patients will increase, which means an additional burden on the state budget every year.”
