Follow-up Care
186 children and adolescents diagnosed with congenital hypothyroidism and diabetes receive medical consultations and treatment in the endocrinological dispensary of “Arabkir” MC.
Since 2005, on the initiative of “Arabkir” MC and with the help of the University Children’s Hospital of Zurich and the Ministry of Health of the RA neonatal screening has been carried out in Armenia, through which congenital hypothyroidism is diagnosed early. This avoids mental and physical delays, which are the main complications of hypothyroidism. As a part of their follow-up care, children diagnosed with this disease receive medical consultations 4 times a year and are examined within the framework of the state order received from the Ministry of Health, and the medicine for treatment is given from regional polyclinics based on the document assigned by the physician of the dispensary office.
Congenital hypothyroidism is a polyetiological disease characterized by thyroid gland deficiency. The main complications of the disease are mental and physical delays. To avoid those complications, neonatal screening was introduced in Armenia in 2005, which allows early diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism in newborns. Since July 2005, all maternity hospitals have been included in the program, and since 2014, all regional maternity hospitals were included as well. Neonatal screening aims at avoiding or decreasing pediatric disability and mortality associated with this disease.
Children with diabetes can visit an endocrinologist once a month and can undergo all necessary examinations twice a year, within the framework of the state order of the Ministry of Health. Children with diabetes are given free insulin at the dispensary office.
Patients with diabetes attend the school of diabetes and receive all the necessary knowledge about their disease.
During the school of diabetes, children and their parents visit the endocrinology room, during the 4-5 day course, the specialists educate them on diabetes, discuss all the questions and give advice on living with diabetes. The training is interactive, that is, children are not only in the role of listeners, but also actively participate in discussions. The room is provided with all necessary methodological guidelines, games, which make the courses much more interesting. The children are given personal glucometers, they learn the rules of self-monitoring, self-measuring the glucose levels and self-administration of insulin.
Our motto is: “Diabetes is not a disease, but a lifestyle”.