ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s first comprehensive public-sector programme for children with Type 1 diabetes will provide free insulin, specialist care, telemedicine, digital follow-up and family education while strengthening early diagnosis and long-term disease management, officials and endocrinologists said on Thursday.
As part of the programme, 500,000 schoolchildren and another 200,000 people attending healthcare facilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be screened for diabetes, while 140 physicians and 560 paramedics will receive specialised training to improve early diagnosis and management of Type 1 diabetes. The three-year Juvenile Diabetes Control Programme will be implemented by the KP Health Department with the support of the Pakistan Endocrine Society and private-sector partners. The initiative aims to register an estimated 2,265 children with Type 1 diabetes, establish insulin banks, create a digital patient registry and expand specialist services across the province.
The programme incorporates the digital care model developed under the SMILE (Simplifying the Life of Type 1 Diabetic Kids) project, conceived by renowned endocrinologist Dr Syed Abbas Raza. The platform enables electronic patient registration, telemedicine consultations, digital medical records, diabetes education and long-term follow-up. Dr Raza will also help train master trainers and healthcare professionals to strengthen early diagnosis and evidence-based management of Type 1 diabetes.
Senior endocrinologist and Project Director of the program Dr Ibrar Ahmed, who presented the programme to the Pakistan Endocrine Society, said the initiative was designed to establish a comprehensive model of care rather than simply ensuring the availability of insulin. “Children with Type 1 diabetes cannot survive without insulin, but insulin alone is not enough,” he said. “They also require regular monitoring, diabetes education, nutritional counselling, psychological support and lifelong specialist care. This programme seeks to bring all these services together under one coordinated system.”
Dr Ahmed said the digital registry would enable health authorities to determine the true burden of Type 1 diabetes, monitor treatment outcomes and improve planning for procurement of insulin and other essential supplies.
The programme also envisages establishing insulin banks to ensure uninterrupted availability of life-saving insulin, introducing standardised treatment protocols and providing structured diabetes education for patients and their caregivers through digital and physical platforms.
Children below 15 years of age will receive care from paediatric endocrinologists, while patients aged 15 to 25 years will transition to adult endocrinologists through a structured care pathway that includes laboratory investigations, blood glucose monitoring, virtual consultations and scheduled follow-up visits. The initiative also proposes providing glucometers, test strips and continuous glucose monitoring devices to deserving children and collaborating with peer-support groups to help patients and families cope with the lifelong condition.
Dr Ibrar said the programme could serve as a model for other provinces, as no public-sector initiative in Pakistan currently offers integrated screening, patient registration, uninterrupted insulin access, specialist care, telemedicine and digital follow-up for children living with Type 1 diabetes.
