Dubai: The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has updated doctors and nurses attached to private schools on how to manage emergencies and chronic illness among pupils.
A senior official with the DHA said many of the medical staff attached to the 146 private schools in Dubai were keen to be updated on how to deal with an emergency during school hours.
Many school-age children in the UAE have chronic illnesses such as Type 1 diabetes and serious allergies such as asthma.
A senior doctor from the Authority told Gulf News earlier that many teachers are unaware of how to deal with children with diabetes and do not know things such as a child needs to go to the toilet frequently or take his or her insulin shot.
He said there is a huge lack of awareness among educators about diabetes and how to deal with a child who gets hypoglycemia (sharp drop in glucose level in body). All schools are required by law to have trained and licensed medical staff in schools full-time.
The updates to the staff were provided by children specialists from Latifa Hospital, Ministry of Health and the private sector professionals.
Dental care
The medical care of students in the public sector schools in Dubai is handled by the Health Ministry while the DHA oversees the private schools.
"There was a huge feedback from schools wanting updates to their knowledge on how to deal with emergencies," said Amal Al Mehrezi, Head of School Health Unit, DHA.
She said this continuous medical education programmes also focused on dental care of children. According to reports a large number of school children in the UAE have dental caries.
Dr Ramadan Ebrahim, Director of Health Regulation said the programme for school staff was developed based on feedback from the private schools.
