South Asia Development Award

GCU signs agreement to help prevent amputations in India

In October 2010, Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) was granted £20,000 from the Scottish Government’s South Asia Development Award to deliver a programme in the management of diabetic foot disease in India that could prevent diabetes related limb amputations.

Thanks to support from our SDI India team, the training programme is being delivered by specialists from the university’s School of Health to physicians providing diabetic care in Chennai, Mumbai and Delhi.

Diabetic foot disease accounts for more than 50 percent of non traumatic limb amputations.

Early detection of the disease may prevent amputation and the programme will provide clinicians with the necessary skills to identify diabetic foot disease at an early stage.

Similar partnerships have been forged with the MV Hospital for Diabetes and Diabetes Research in Chennai, Lilavati Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai and Max Health Care, also in Delhi, to deliver the programme in other parts of the country.

"With over 50 million diabetics registered throughout the country, India is considered the diabetes capital of the world and as such the obvious beneficiary in partnering with GCU's Diabetic Foot care Management Program.

“I congratulate GCU and their Indian partners in completing delivery of the first part of the programme across Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai training hundreds of physicians and doctors, and wish Prof Baird and his team well with the next round of workshops."

– Mark Dolan, First Secretary Trade & Investment, SDI India 

“Our partners in India are very important to us and we’re very privileged indeed to be working with our esteemed Indian colleagues on this groundbreaking initiative to help prevent unnecessary suffering through diabetes related limb amputations.

“The support of the Scottish Government and Scottish Development International will allow us to share our podiatric expertise with doctors around India, building capacity in a sustainable way that will transform lives.”

– Pamela Gillies, Glasgow Caledonian University Principal and Vice-Chancellor