Financial stress, multiple jobs, and unhealthy diets are pushing people as young as 20 to 30 into undiagnosed diabetes, with many discovering their condition only after being hospitalized with severely blocked heart arteries and uncontrolled blood pressure.
Speaking at a news briefing during the annual conference of the Pakistan Endocrine Society, senior diabetologists and internal medicine specialists said that emergency wards are increasingly seeing young patients in their late twenties and early thirties with multiple blocked coronary arteries.
Only after angiography and lab tests do these patients learn they have long-standing type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
In most cases, the disease progresses silently for years without noticeable symptoms, and by the time it is diagnosed, damage to blood vessels, kidneys, and other organs has already begun.
At the briefing, the Discovering Diabetes team launched its 2024-25 impact report, revealing that the program has so far reached over 8.5 million people, tracked around 966,000 individuals for diabetes risk, and connected 463,000 suspected patients with medical advice.
Free testing and consultations were provided to more than 348,000 people through screening camps, digital platforms, and doctor linkages across Pakistan. Experts said these figures highlight both the scale of outreach and the alarming rise of undiagnosed diabetes in the population.
Former Pakistan Endocrine Society president Dr. Abrar Ahmed said that diabetes has silently become one of Pakistanās top health threats and is growing rapidly. “Every fourth Pakistani is diabetic. It is a concerning picture, but gatherings like this provide hope.
If we want progress, lifestyle changes need to begin now. As lifestyle improves, diabetes comes under control,” he added, noting that public fascination with weight-loss injections has shifted focus from basic diabetes management and routine blood sugar monitoring.
Discovering Diabetes Project Director Syed Jamshed Ahmed said that over 33 million people in Pakistan are confirmed diabetics, with almost an equal number believed to be living with the disease without knowing it.
He added, “We screened hundreds of thousands of citizens, and many only discovered diabetes after being connected with a physician. People proudly say they can eat a kilo of gulab jamun without worry.
That mindset is driving a generation toward disability.” He urged the government to introduce short diabetes warning messages through mobile caller tunes and broadcast alerts.
Consultant physician and PSIM representative Dr. Soumya Iqtidar said the medical community remains in constant “firefighting mode.” “Pakistan now ranks among the highest in adult diabetes and is close to topping global obesity charts.
Diabetes doesnāt come alone it brings hypertension, kidney strain, heart failure, and mobility issues. PSIM has launched A-to-Z diabetes training for general practitioners, and a course with IDF is being finalized to equip primary care doctors,” she explained.
Former PES president Dr Khurshid A. Khan said type 2 diabetes is now spreading at a speed never seen before in Pakistan due to inactivity, stress and high-calorie diets.
“Earlier patients walked into clinics. Now many arrive in wheelchairs. People are doing double shifts to survive, parks are disappearing, healthy food is expensive while junk food is cheap.
Our economic collapse is directly linked to the rise in lifestyle diseases,” he said, adding that television channels dedicate long hours to politics but rarely touch Pakistan’s biggest health emergency.
PharmEvo Managing Director Haroon Qasim said diabetes is a silent killer and warned that Pakistan is heading towards the highest diabetes burden globally. He said an estimated 230,000 deaths occur annually in Pakistan due to diabetes and its complications.
“IDF has recognised Discovering Diabetes as a model of diabetes awareness and selected PharmEvo for this mission after reviewing our four-year performance,” he said, calling for a policy shift on sugary drinks.
“In Arab countries, taxes on sugary beverages are very high to discourage consumption. Pakistan should do the same. Diabetes and hypertension go hand in hand, so policy must target both through price controls on harmful products and incentives for healthy diets”.
Trifit CEO Ahmer Azam said that Pakistan has become a “nation of exceptions, not systems”. “We assume a few lucky people stay healthy without effort. That attitude makes us irresponsible. No country consumes more bakery items than Pakistan.
Exercise is mandatory. WHO recommends 150 minutes a week. If someone cannot spare two and a half hours weekly for their own health, expecting to live a healthy life is unrealistic,” he said.
He urged doctors to prescribe exercise in writing, as is done in many countries, and announced that all Trifit marketing screens nationwide will display diabetes awareness messages for a week.