British Columbia FM for diabetes awareness

Thursday, 06/12/2012

http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=56914&boxid=57950&uid=&dat=2012-12-06

Jalandhar : “The South-Asian people living in Canada are 25 per cent more prone to the disease of diabetes as compared to the people of Canadian origin living in Canada”. This was revealed here on Wednesday by Dr Gulzar Singh Cheema, former minister of State for Mental Health in British Columbia (BC) when asked about the number of Punjabis suffering from the diseases in Canada. Cheema was accompanying British Columbia Finance Minister Micheal de Jong, who is on a two-week campaign to spread awareness for diabetes among the people of Punjab.

Cheema said, “Basically the South-Asian people, including Punjabis as well, are genetically low calorie consumers and have been doing more physical work. With change in time and economic betterment of the, our diets have improved and level of physical activities have drastically declined. However, this has not changed our genetic build-up which is ok only with the low calorie diet. In such situation, all we need to do is to property exercise and prefer a stable and balanced diet”.

Jong, who was on his 8th visit to Punjab, said that diabetes was an incurable disease and people have been spending a lot on its treatment but still many lose their organs and ultimately their life. “The real success is that no family loses its father or mother in the age of 40s due to diabetes. This could be done only by awareness and adopting a health routine,” continued Jong.

He further added that the real heart of Punjab is its villages and the heart has to be healthy so he was focusing a lot on the villages for his awareness camp. Sikh encyclopaedist and museologist Dr Raghbir Singh Bains was also present.

Punjabis have politics in their blood

Jalandhar: British Columbia Finance Minister Micheal de Jong, who is on a two-week diabetes awareness campaign in Punjab, on Wednesday said that Punjabis had politics in their blood and loved it while the Canadians were losing interest in it.

To a query about increasing participation of Punjabis in the politics of Canada, Jong remarked, “Punjabis love politics. It is something with the ‘pani’ (water) her that people get involved be it with Congress, Akali Dal of any other party. However, we are losing this in Canadians. The people of Canada do not get involved and their in decline in their interest toward politics”.

About the contribution of Punjabis in Canada, Jong said, “It is my 8th visit to Punjab and whenever I reach this place, the first thing is say is ‘Thank You’. The sons and daughters of Punjab have made tremendous efforts for building Canada.