24th May, 2021 (Bengaluru): During this COVID pandemic, the worst affected are people with comorbidities such as diabetes. Diabetes not only increases the risk of developing serious complications from COVID but also slows down recovery from its effects. The stress, medications and steroids further make the blood sugar control go completely haywire. In addition, about 14% of people while recovering from COVID are developing new-onset diabetes.
With the numbers steadily hitting 4 lakhs per day and above in the month of May, we will see a huge number of post covid requiring rehabilitation. This will be especially true of people with people with diabetes as they are dealt a double whammy by Covid. Higher risk of complications, slower recovery and bad sugar fluctuations. And these affect all organ systems – from lung weakness, to fatigue to muscular weakness. Diabetic patients who have recently recovered from Covid-19 infection after being treated with steroids are at risk of contracting Mucormycosis or Black Fungus infection. Reports have quoted unpublished medical studies reporting over 80 per cent of Black Fungus infections, which is now a declared epidemic by a few states is seen only among the diabetic Covid survivors.
At Fitterfly, as Digital COVID warriors, we recognise the problems at large. As our contribution, we have upgraded our Diabefly Digital Therapeutics platform to include an integrated ‘Post COVID Recovery’ module for the first few weeks of the program, at no extra cost.
This enhanced program will be launched as the Diabefly-PCR program (Post COVID Recovery) around the 24th of May, 2021. It is India’s first such program for people with Diabetes which takes care of all the health aspects affected due to COVID – respiratory, musculoskeletal, nutritional and psychological. People can take advantage of the program from the comfort of their home via calls, chat, virtual group sessions and webinars.
The program has been designed by top doctors, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychologists. Top Endocrinologists like Dr Sanjay Kalra and Dr Tejal Lathia have contributed as advisors to the structure and contents of the program.
What does the 3-month program cover?
1. Dedicated Psychologist consults for overcoming stress, fear, anxiety
2. Certified Physiotherapist consults for regaining muscle strength, reducing pain, improving mobility and lung capacity.
3. Personalised Nutrition plans geared towards diabetes control as well as immunity, taking into consideration challenges like loss of taste and smell.
4. Focus on Diabetes control for the rest of the program after complete COVID recovery.
5. Group therapy and respiratory exercise sessions under expert guidance to foster peer support
6. Full access to the Fitterfly wellness app and COVID/ Diabetes knowledge bank, recipes and resources.
Dr Sanjay Kalra, eminent endocrinologist and ex-President of Endocrine society of India added,” People with diabetes need special care post covid to get their sugars under control faster as well as recover from the aftermath of covid. The current healthcare system and doctors are burdened and cannot offer the 360 care which these people need. Digital Therapeutic initiatives are welcome to help people recover faster and will go a long way in helping people”
Dr Tejal Lathia, Senior Endocrinologist at Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai chimes in, “ People with post covid diabetes need help managing stress, fear and anxiety besides focussing on their glycemic control and lifestyle modifications. This needs a multidisciplinary planned approach which cannot be provided by a single doctor. Using a Digital therapeutics program can help people in these difficult times. And the wonderful part is that they don’t have to step out of their homes. Digital therapeutics ticks the top 2 boxes in patient centred care – holistic approach and ease of access.”
Dr Arbinder Singal,Cofounder and CEO of Fitterfly, himself a super specialist surgeon adds ,” Covid has derailed glycemic control for people with diabetes and we are looking at a tsunami of new onset diabetes as some of the people from the peak of second wave of pandemic go into recovery phase. There is an urgent need to help these people else they are at risk of fungal infections, damage to kidneys, eyes and nerves and would become a difficult issue for their families. In our Diabefly program, we added a lot of extra features like extra consultations with psychologists, nutritionists and physiotherapists without any extra cost to provide support in these difficult times.”
About Fitterfly
Fitterfly is a smart, personal digital therapeutic solution that is an anytime, anywhere companion for patients to truly achieve their health goals. The company offers a clinically validated, digital-led therapy that connects patients, health coaches and healthcare providers in meaningful ways to enable sustainable behaviour change that is at the core of good health. Fitterfly achieves transformational outcomes for patients with personalised, data and coaching-led behaviour change via Vogital (voice and digital) touch points with a user-centric app. The programs are based on glocally accepted, evidence-based protocols and cutting-edge research.
Fitterfly’s current product suite includes scientific and hyper-personalized DTx programs for diabetes, PCOS, obesity, pregnancy, and child wellness. They are the preferred digital therapeutic partner for a large number of doctors, hospitals, organisations like pharma companies, corporates and medical device companies.
The company was Co-Founded by Dr. Arbinder Singal- CEO, Shailesh Gupta- COO, and Jayesh Sawant- CTO/CPO.
