Manama: Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) health ministers have called for the promulgation of comprehensive legal texts to organise the transplantation and donation of organs.
The ministers, at the end of their 70th meeting in Doha, stressed the need to set up separate transplant and donation centres in the six member states and to adopt all necessary principles by the members to be self-sufficient in the field.
The centres should be electronically linked, should have with well-trained medical personnel and should reinvigorate regional co-operation in this sector, Qatari daily Gulf Times reported.
The ministers also agreed to strengthen co-operation among member-states to combat cancer and diabetes, two of the major ailments that afflict Gulf citizens today, and recommended appointing an advisory body to combat cancer.
In order to fight diabetes in GCC, the ministers endorsed the "Dubai Declaration" and encouraged all members to intensify the technical, diplomatic and scientific efforts to combat non-infectious diseases as a development framework and social investment.
GCC member-states should empower their embassies and competent agencies in the workers-exporting countries to deal with the authorised health centres in addressing issues related to people planning to work in the Gulf, the ministers said.
A report with specific recommendations to reinforce the programme of migrant workers medical inspection should be submitted to the ministerial council, the ministers said.
