Following is an excerpt from a report in Hindu.

"As India has been declared as diabetes capital of the world, a world class diabetes care facility is badly needed in the country," director of Cuttack Diabetes Research Foundation (CDRF), Dr Alok Kanungo, told reporters here.

Billed as the first of its kind in eastern India, the ultra modern Rs 15 crore Kanungo Institute of Diabetes Specialities (KIDS) would be inaugurated here by chief minister Naveen Patnaik on November 14, coinciding with the World Diabetes Day, he said.

World centres like Karolinska institute of Sweden which decides Nobel prize in medicine has joined hands with KIDS and CDRF to extend all technical support for advance research and training, said Kanungo.

"The institute will be equipped with latest equipment, trained manpower, fully computerised systems and everything which is required for diabetes management," he said adding it would be a boon for not only Orissa, home to over 30 lakh diabetics, but for entire eastern India.

Diabetics are 25 times more likely to turn blind, 17 times more prone to kidney ailment and three times more prone to heart disease, said Kanungo.

Kids would initially have a 100-bed hospital block, out patient block to handle 1000 patients per day for treatment, major and minor operation theatres, foot care, eyecare, kedney, cardiology, neurology, nutrition, physiotherapy and other departments.