Diabetic Foot Screening: A Growth Service for O&P and Foot-Health Clinics
2 min reading time
With tens of millions of adults living with diabetes across the region, a structured foot-screening service helps patients, builds referral partnerships and grows your clinic.
Diabetes is one of the biggest health challenges across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia – and the foot is where many of its most serious complications begin. For O&P and foot-health clinics, a structured diabetic foot screening service is one of the most valuable things you can offer patients, and one of the most natural ways to grow.
The size of the need
The International Diabetes Federation estimates that around 85 million adults in the Middle East and North Africa were living with diabetes in 2024 – with more than a third undiagnosed, and numbers projected to almost double by 2050.
A widely cited 2017 review in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated that up to one in three people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer in their lifetime, and that around 40% of patients have a recurrence within a year of healing. Prevention and early detection matter enormously.
Why it's good for patients – and for your clinic
Prevention works. In a 2019 randomised study in The Lancet Digital Health, patients whose insoles alerted them to high plantar pressure had about 71% fewer plantar ulcers than the control group. Pressure matters, and you can measure it.
It creates long-term relationships. People with diabetes need regular review, footwear and insole replacement – a recurring patient base.
It opens referral partnerships with endocrinologists, diabetes centres, GPs and wound-care teams.
It differentiates you from retail insole sellers with clinical assessment and objective data.
What a screening service needs
A clear protocol. Base it on recognised guidance such as the International Working Group on the Diabetic Foot, agreed with your clinical team: history, skin and nail check, sensation testing, footwear review and risk grading.
Objective assessment. A pressure plate such as the Qaadir Insight Mini (Bluetooth, with Android and iOS apps and PDF patient reports) or an in-shoe pressure system shows where load sits, and a podoscope gives a quick visual check of foot posture.
Diabetic Foot Screening: A Growth Service for O&P and Foot-Health Clinics
With tens of millions of adults living with diabetes across the region, a structured foot-screening service helps patients, builds referral partnerships and grows your clinic.
