THE shortage of vegetables on Yasawa is affecting the diet plan of 13 diabetic patients in four villages, says Yasawa district nurse Shalini Lata.

“My patients are in different stages of the disease but one thing I am very pleased with is that none of them need amputation,” she said.

“So to help them avoid that stage we’ve put them on different diet plans which they have been following over the past 12 months.

“One thing that is a challenge for them is the inability for them to follow the healthy plate program as outlined under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

“It’s very difficult to plant vegetables right now in these areas because maybe the weather is very dry so I give them alternative meal plans like instead of eating three full meals in a day they have about five small meals.”

She said dehydration was also prevalent among patients.

“One thing about diabetic patients is that their veins become narrow and when they don’t drink a lot of water it becomes very hard for nutrients to reach their feet.

“That’s when we see the physical impact of that in the feet or limb of a diabetic patient. I am trying to get them off the medicine but if I can’t do that then a good healthy meal plan with the available resources is being adopted by each of them.

“I have also encouraged them to drink a lot of water.”

According to Ms Lata, 25 people suffer from NCD-related illnesses on the island.