Dubai: A national diabetes registry, a new diabetes management protocol, a multidisciplinary care centre for diabetics and a transition centre for the youth diagnosed are some of the initiatives announced by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) for greater awareness and better patient outcomes to mark World Diabetes day.

The campaign was inaugurated by Humaid Al Qutami, Chairman of the Board and director-general of DHA.

The campaign took place in coordination with several partners, including Novo Nordisk, Abbott Nutrition, Novartis, MSD and Lifescan and included free blood sugar screening and nutritional counselling.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, presently, one in 11 adults has diabetes (415 million) and by 2040 this will rise to 642 million. It is estimated that 19 per cent of the population in the UAE suffers from diabetes.

Al Qutami said: “In addition to sustained public awareness campaigns, developing strong initiatives and devising protocols and policies to help prevent the onset of diabetes as well as better manage the condition of diabetics is one of the priorities of the DHA. With the introduction of our new initiatives, we aim to provide the highest level of care to our patients and help improve patient outcomes.”

DHA diabetes registry:

A patient diabetes registry developed in-house by the DHA diabetes committee and the IT department will clock in complete details of every diabetic patient that visits any of the DHA health facilities.

Dr Fatheya Al Awadi, Head of Endocrinology at Dubai Hospital and Head of DHA Diabetes Committee, said: “The diabetes registry is a tool that will help us get accurate information about the number of diabetics. We can understand year-on-year statistics to see whether there is an increase in the number of diabetics and we can tailor our prevention campaigns accordingly. Furthermore, understanding the number of years a patient has had diabetes helps endocrinologists understand their likelihood of developing complications. This registry is a tool that provides evidence-based data on which we can base preventive and curative policies.”

Online protocol for diabetes management

Beginning this month, the DHA has introduced a unified protocol of managing diabetes across its health facilities. Known as Programme for Diabetes Management System (PDMS), the online system ensures every diabetic that visits DHA entities receives the same level of multidisciplinary treatment.

The system was available earlier only at the Dubai Diabetes Centre and now the same level of care has been extended across all DHA entities.

Dr Fatheya added that the system ensured unified multidisciplinary treatment for all patients. “Since all the key findings for every patient, including details of complications, were clearly mentioned, it would help us audit the level of care provided and the benefit patients had received through key performance indicators such as blood sugar control, blood pressure, lipid profile, kidney function, etc,” she added.

Introducing joint clinics for diabetics with complications — first-of-its-kind initiative in Dubai.

Dr Mohammad Hassanein, Senior Consultant Endocrinologist at Dubai Hospital and member of DHA Diabetes Committee, said that DHA had introduced joint clinics for multidisciplinary care. “ This will make consultation less time-consuming,” he added.

Unique multidisciplinary centre

Hassanein said: “For pregnant women who are diabetic, pre-diabetic or have gestational diabetes, we have a joint clinic so that they can visit their obstetrician and their endocrinologist at the same time. This ensures excellent levels of multidisciplinary treatment and is time-saving.” The clinic would be available on a weekly basis at Dubai Hospital and on a monthly basis at Latifa Hospital. The DHA also introduced two new joint clinics at Dubai Hospital. The first had nephrologists and endocrinologists for diabetics with kidney problems. This clinic would take place on a monthly basis. The second clinic was a bi-monthly clinic with thyroid surgeons and endocrinologists.

Dr Hassanein added: “In the thyroid joint clinic, patients will undergo an ultrasound and biopsy on the same day and in less than two weeks begun on a treatment plan which is based on inputs from multidisciplinary medical experts.”

Diabetes Transition Care Programme for Young Adults:

Dr Fatheya added that paediatric patients with diabetes would now be moved to the adult clinic over 13 years of age to get them to cope better with their condition as they grew older. To ease this transition, DHA introduced a joint clinic with paediatric endocrinologists and adult endocrinologists so that young adults felt comfortable in their new health-care environment. The clinic is likely to begin within the next few weeks.

Diabetes app in the pipeline:

In addition to these initiatives, the DHA will shortly launch a diabetes app to educate diabetics on better management of their condition. Dr Fatheya said: “The DHA is keen to provide the highest level of care to diabetic patients and we will continue to roll out such initiatives which provide patients with convenience and ensure better patient compliance and outcomes.”