A Survivor's Tale: Unprofessional Medical Personnel Left 44-Year-Old Man Devastated After Diabetes Diagnosis

Malawi-A forty-four (44) years old Gringo Zafania recalls the devastation he suffered at the hands of unprofessional medical personnel when he mobilised courage to storm a rural hospital to grab a diabetes test, on December 20, 2010, writes Ed-Grant Ndoza, MANA.

His decision to seek medical attention was sparked after a solid week of experiencing abnormal body feelings and signs, topping the list being unquenched thirst that forced him to drink water and soft drinks as rapidly as if his body had turned into a transpiration machine.

“Oh !, Mr Zafania, you have diabetes,” exclaimed a medical man,” Zafania remembers the spine-chilling announcement of a test result. He can still picture the middle-aged medical assistant pointing at a glucose testing miniature machine which beamed 400gmls glucose level.

 “ Your diabetes is too high and your gods are by your side that you can even walk. Who has accompanied you to the hospital?” he continued to break Zafania's heart.

He grabbed Zafania by the hand and led him to a counselling room, just a few steps away from the laboratory, where he ran him through a marathon narration of the causes and the deadly impacts of the disease. 

The unprofessional medical man threw to the dogs the confidentiality he took an oath to diligently observe in discharging his lifeline duties. 

“He recited a lineup of people living with diabetes, some of them my close friends,” recalls Zafania, while clapping hands in disbelief.

 Zaf, as proudly called by his fans, was sharing his ordeal with friends and urging for a quick diabetes test he said was beneficial to one’s health.

He continues to remember the medical man fishing out of a wooden shelf a hardcovered book that had a jungle of coloured food stuff drawings and used a black pental marker to circle one drawing after another and left very few. To Zafs's surprise, most of the circled drawings were animal-related foodstuff.

Zafania can still hear tough instructions from the man.

“ Get me right, Sir. From today, you will not dare consume any of the foodstuffs in circles. You can eat vegetables in limitless quantities This is for your health, your own life.” 

Zafania was confused to note that most of the foodstuffs on the chopping board were not only delicious but were animal-source foodstuffs that nutritionists swear are sources of important nutrients required for the nourishment of the body for its normal functioning.

In an article co-authored by Susannie P. Murphy and Lindsay H. Allen, published on November 1, 2003, in Oxford Academy, The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 133I, Issue 11, described animal source food as crucial in providing a variety of nutrients than what can be obtained in plant source foods alone, in whatever quantities and intervals.

According to Murphy and Allen, animal-source foods contain six crucial micronutrients, such as a variety of vitamins like Vitamin A, B-12, riboflavin, calcium, iron and zinc, most of which can rarely be found or are available in small quantities in the fibrous herbivorous diet.

Herbivorous meals are prepared from vegetables, fruits and legumes, advisably taken together with whole grain carbohydrates rich foods, like sorghum, millet, wheat and oats as energy source foods.

Dietary fibre, known as roughage, is essential for people’s good health, especially for a diabetic person.

Mayo Clinic Staff Writer says dietary fibre is good for digestion, helps to facilitate weight loss and improves the immune system of a fragile body. Roughage also potential in controlling unnecessary shooting of glucose levels, and reduces risks of cancer attacks and other vascular diseases, owing to its low cholesterol contents.

The inevitable dietary shift from omnivorous ( animals and vegetable food) to a herbivorous diet alone, puts diabetic people in a serious dilemma. Among other challenges, they are already prone to, respectively, anaemia and disease infections due to impairment of the bone marrow which produces red blood cells, and a worn-out immune system.

They need large quantities of iron and vitamins to replenish diminishing haemoglobin and to boost body immunity. 

The day’s remaining tasks for Zafania at the hospital that memorable day, to buying a health passport book from one roaming massager, going back to the same medical man for a drug prescription and scrumble in a long queue at a pharmacy window, redeeming drugs, looked like Zafania had already started serving his life jail term for a crime that lacked penal code backing.

 He felt his legs melting as he regrettably left the hospital for his house, situated dogs' bark away from the health facility.

It can be argued that positive test results of diabetes break the hearts of many people, to a greater extent, due to unprofessional counselling that tilts “new patients" towards visualising only the darker side of life that eclipses the cognitive capacity to strategize for a transformative health living, in their diabetic state.

A diabetic person is strongly cautioned against consuming animal food products, like meat, milk, dairy and all animal processed foodstuffs dominating shelves in chain food stores because they have abnormally high quantities of saturated fats.

Saturated fats are a risk to the health of a diabetic person. Saturated fats are deposited in the blood arteries which leads to cardiovascular diseases (diseases of the blood circulatory system), like heart disease and other related complications.

But wise men have always made it crystal clear. When one is swept away by the darkness of a predicament that drives one to a state of quandary, all is not lost. When one door is shut, seconds later, the opposite door flips open.

Diabetic people can now heave a deep sigh of relief. They can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.

Hats off to research think tanks who have brought forward empirical evidence that herbivorous meals can always be supplemented with chicken eggs and fish, in what is referred to as nutritional fortification of the diet (strengthening a meal with extra nutrients).

Eggs and fish food supplements are enough to fortify ( upgrade) fruits and dark green leafy diet with important nutrients that perform just like nutrients sourced in animal food, including delicacy.

“Eggs are a beneficial part of a rich and friendly diabetic diet because of their high content of unsaturated fat, protein nutrients, vitamin and numerous minerals,” says Parul Dube of HealthfyME, in his article Eggs for Diabetes- The Significance. Dube says a single egg contains a variety of nutrients such as fats, proteins, vitamins A, B-12 and D, plus several minerals like iron, calcium, selenium and zinc. 

Eggs help in stabilising glucose levels due to their high concentration of proteins which are slow to digest than carbohydrates, hence their potential to control the rate of sugar absorption.

 Eggetarian diabatic people are free from eye disorders because of Lutein and Zeaxanthin chemical compounds induced by egg nutrients. 

Recent breakthrough research in Greece reported by Robby Berman of Media News Today says just by consuming 1 to 3 eggs a week, an adiabatic person achieves 60% safety from developing cardiovascular diseases.

Fish contains nutrients like vitamin D, B-12 and omega-3 fatty acids. Omega- 3 fatty acids are very sensitive to insulin. According to a study by Harvard University, consumption of this fat boosts the production of an insulin-sensitive adiponectin hormone, which reduces insulin resistance in adiabatic people.

Omega-3 fatty acids also help in activating the bone marrow to produce enough haemoglobin which is in limited supply in diabetic people, which leads to anaemia, according to Chul Woo Ahn of the Korean Journal of Internal Medicine.

Vitamin B-12 plays a complementary role with omega-3 fatty acids in the nourishment of the preferred nervous system ( PNS) and the blood circulatory system, to improve the health of the red blood cells. Vitamin B-12 also guarantees the consistent flow of blood for normal operations of body organs as it prevents blood clotting in blood vessels, which causes artery blockages.

Both fish and eggs supplement vitamin D nutrients for bone nourishment which is usually depleting rapidly in a diabetic person, more so due to limited exposure to UV-B rays from the sun, in times of patient hospitalisation and bedriddenness.

On accessibility, a low-income household can easily rare local chickens. The birds can be committed to a free-range feeding system as opposed to hybrid chickens which have to be caged and fed on processed expensive feeds.

They can be housed in a simple structure from locally sourced planks and simple poles, as long as the shelter guarantees absolute protection against predating wild cats.

Another simple task is continuous surveillance to detect diseases such as Newcastle, and parasite attacks which have to be hastily reported to the nearest veterinary office for treatment.

 Families can also produce their fish in simple fish ponds, an enterprise that can be supported better through the adoption of integrated homestead farming (IHF). IH farming system allows crops, poultry and other small stocks to complement fish production. Tiwonge Nkosi, Coordinator for Kusamala Climate Smart Agriculture Project, under Kusamala Institute of Agriculture and Ecology, defines integrated homestead farming as an agricultural practice of cultivating several crops (including fruit trees) alongside small stocks raising, like poultry, fish, goats and others to meet household basic needs, including nutrition requirements.

Integrated homestead farming, previously known as home yard agriculture, helps to improve food security and income levels and fights micronutrient deficiencies at the household level.

Said Nkosi, “Its goal is to increase production and consumption of nutritious foods while generating income for households.”

A family can use animal manure ( chicken droppings included) to fertilise plankton and other soft green grassy plants that fish feeds on and then shoulder the burden to folk hard in their pockets to purchase expensive inorganic (chemical) fertilisers.

Unused and overgrown vegetables can also be chopped into tiny pieces as supplementary fish feeds.

 Household necessities which can not be supported by this type of agriculture can always be sourced by proceeds from sales of surplus eggs, old chickens, unwanted male stocks, and fish.

In geographical terrain not feasible for fish production, a family can commit some resources to source fish from local fishmongers to achieve a complete minimum dietary requirement for the nutritional stability of family members.

The wonders fish and eggs can perform, to boost the nutritional well-being of diabetic persons, and unconditionally divorce long-hardened misconceptions to the effect that the only survival belt for diabetic people is a herbivorous diet.

In whatever state of quandary one is trapped in, there is always a window through which a ray of hope flashes, marking the unveiling of restoration of dented reputation, lost glory and disrupted peace of mind.