• Home
• /
• Healthcare

Over 1.7 million people in UAE suffer from Diabetes

About 7000 cases of stroke are reported in the UAE every year

Sharjah - University Hospital Sharjah (UHS), the leading healthcare provider in Sharjah and the UAE, has added vascular surgery to the list of world class services that it offers to patients, under the supervision and consultation of leading doctors and experts in the UAE and internationally.

UHS has the facilities to match the best in the developed countries and is gearing up to further expand its medical services.

“The University Hospital Sharjah has been successful in saving lives and improving the quality of life for many patients,” said a consulting surgeon.

Dr Amit Kumar, consultant vascular surgeon at the University Hospital Sharjah, advises that patients should check their feet every day, or ask a family member to look at their feet, and report even a small cut to their primary care doctor.

The surgeon who is also the Clinical Assistant Professor—Surgery, Columbia University, New York, USA, said, “A small wound can fester, and one thing leads to other.” He cites the recent case of 65-year-old-man, diagnosed with a bad infection of the foot and was told that the leg would have to be amputated below the knee. “We saved the foot and he is now walking around,” said Dr. Amit.

Diabetes is a rapidly spreading metabolic disease in the UAE and the globe. Healthcare authorities are alarmed at the advance of the disease that affects more than 1.7 million people in the UAE.

Dr Amit said every month he has 450 patient visits suffering from diabetes, Stroke, DVT (deep vein thrombosis, or clot formation in the vein,) and aneurysms (enlargement of the blood vessel).

“DVT is another vascular disease that is severely undiagnosed”, said Dr. Amit. He cites the case of a young woman who could barely walk. “We gave her clot-busting drugs and she has gone back to doing triathlons,” he continued.

Dr. Amit also stated that people should be more aware of Stroke and its effects.  A stroke occurs when a blood vessel carrying oxygen and nutrients to the brain is blocked by a clot, or bursts.

He said it not only causes narrowing of blood vessels but also diminishes the memory. “We treated an 80-year-old with a narrowing of the carotid artery, with a history of weakness in her arm and altered speech. Not only did the surgery remove the risk of stroke but her memory also got better and she started remembering names that she had been forgetting,” he said.

About 7000 cases of stroke are reported in the UAE every year.

Dr Amit said, “Vascular surgery for most parts of the body is done today by minimally invasive means, which means the cuts made on the body are only about 3-4 mm, the procedure is done under local anesthesia, and the patient can go home the same day”.

UHS is located adjacent to the University of Sharjah. The 325-bed Hospital is a dedicated centre of excellence for several key specialities and super-specialities.