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Natasha Abbas is a British civil engineer who co-founded North 51, a project management consultancy in Dubai
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State-of-the-Art National Diabetes Centre to Open in Ajman
DUBAI - A national centre for tertiary care of complicated diabetic cases will be operational by August, Minister of Health Humaid Mohammed Obaid Al Qutami told Khaleej Times on Sunday.
The building for the state-of-the-art diabetes centre near Shaikh Khalifa Hospital in Ajman has already been constructed, and the Ministry of Health (MoH) is in the process of arranging equipment and manpower, the minister said.
“On April 13, we will sign a Memorandum of Understanding with an international company to run the centre. We hope to begin the operations in the second half of this year, probably by August,” Qutami said.
Public Health Advisor to MoH on Health Policies and Director for the National Diabetes Control Project Dr Salah Ahmed El Badawi said Swedish healthcare experts were being roped in to supervise the first such institute in the region because of their excellence in managing diabetes mellitus in Sweden.
The multi-million-dirham project is a key Ministry of Health initiative in controlling the high prevalence of diabetes and related complications in the UAE, which ranks second in the rate of diabetes prevalence worldwide.
A quarter of the adult Emiratis are diabetic and the incidence is on the rise among the total population, raising concerns about an epidemic-like scenario.
As part of its Diabetes Care Continuum strategy, the MoH has already announced a multi-pronged approach to tackle diabetes including plans to work on a variety of specialised clinics to tackle diabetes at different levels.
Master diabetes clinics will be set up in selected centres, and mini diabetes clinics are being established within Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs). These institutions will be central in providing care and follow up for diabetic patients on a regular basis.
Dr Badawi said the MoH was also planning another unique project titled “healthy lifestyle modification clinic” to prevent diabetes among healthy adults who fall in the high-risk group.
“This clinic is for healthy people who are at risk of developing diabetes at a later stage.
“The aim is to counsel them and make interventions in their lifestyle before they go to the pool of diabetics,” he told Khaleej Times.
The first such clinic being set up at the Al Ittihad PHC in Dubai is scheduled for opening by yearend.
“We have plans to open similar clinics in other emirates if this pilot project proves to be a success,” said Dr Badawi. sajila@khaleejtimes.com
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