More than 10 percent of the students who availed of the Manila city government's free diabetes screening have yielded "high sugar values."

Mayor Honey Lacuna announced this Wednesday as she cited a report from the office of Manila Health Department chief Dr. Arnold "Poks" Pangan, which conducted the free screening  to senior high school students in observance of the "World Diabetes Day" last  Tuesday.

Lacuna lamented the low turnout of the said tests even if they are being given for free, which she said is an indication of how people tend to ignore their health.

Based on Pangan's report, Lacuna bared that a total of 1,651 Grade 12 public high school students aged 18 to 19 turned up for the free diabetes screening for blood sugar using fasting blood sugar (fbs) testing.  Said tests were done in the 25 public senior high schools in Manila.

Of the number, a total of 168 students were found with "high sugar values" and this, Lacuna said, is bad since it is more than 10 percent of the total who turned up to be tested.

"A confirmatory test for these 168 students will be done on Friday at their respective schools. If confirmed positive, proper measures and interventions will be implemented by the MHD and the Division of City Schools," Pangan further stated in his report.

Lacuna, herself a doctor, lamented that despite appropriate information dissemination and the fact that the diabetes screening is given free of charge, not all of the targeted 7,000 students had themselves tested.

It was learned from Pangan that apart from the screening, the MHD will also provide free follow-ups and medicines for those who will be confirmed as diabetics.

He said that the program is intended as a pre-emptive measure, based on data that beginning at the early age of 18 and 19, people are already suffering from sugar-related problems and even get diabetes which is irreversible once contracted.

The purpose of the screening, Pangan stressed, is to detect the onset of high sugar levels and prevent the onset of diabetes and promote a diabetes-free population in Manila ten years from now.

The free diabetes screening will already be done yearly, Pangan added