Dubai: Bringing mental health and neurological disorder issues in sharp focus, the American Centre for Psychiatry and Neurology (ACPN) held its fourth Neuroscience Congress in Dubai on Friday.
Psychiatrists, neurologists and health-care professionals from acros the Middle East agreed that the health-care community needed to pay more attention to issues related to psychiatry, neurology, psychology, rehabilitation and children services.
The congress was designed as an educational resource to help health-care professionals learn from experts, collaborate with peers, and explore the latest updates in the diagnosis and management of the most common mental health and neuroscience disorders in the UAE.
The Neuroscience Updates Congress was officially opened by the Congress chairman, Dr Tawfik Al Saadi, chief medical office of ACPN, who said in his keynote address that the event was an important opportunity for UAE’s health sector to showcase its advances in the field.
Al Saadi added: “Significant conferences, similar to this event, enhance our collective knowledge of what works best in medical practice, and support our drive towards innovative, recovery-oriented programmes and services. The conference brings together leaders from across the mental health field and allied sectors where mental health has had an impact. This year’s plenary sessions will address a broad range of topics facing all health-care providers in their daily practice, in the hope of improving the level of medical practices and, ultimately, improve the quality of lives in our patients.”
The congress hosted four sessions on mental health and neuroscience disorders with presentations from leading neuroscientists. Topics included multiple sclerosis, epilepsy updates, cerebral palsy, epilepsy and cognition, the importance of sleep, social anxiety, anxiety updates, body image, weight management, workplace bullying, and psychological approaches to managing addiction.
The congress is another way that the ACPN aims to bring together professionals from a variety of disciplines to develop a collaborative approach to providing care for UAE citizens and residents. The event has grown steadily over the last three years, with more than 250 in attendance.
“We are bringing together people who work in different practices to learn from each other and, more importantly, to learn a better way to practise by combining all that we have to share,” said Dr Al Saadi.
