Dubai: The Ministry of Health and Prevention is working on a proposal to announce a National Diabetes Registry soon as this would streamline proper monitoring of residents suffering with Type I and II diabetes in the UAE, a ministry official said on Monday on the occasion of World Diabetes Day.
Speaking on the sidelines of the launch of the second phase of their diabetes management initiative ‘Circle of Care’ to mark World Diabetes Day, Dr Hussain Al Rand, undersecretary for primary health centres and clinics at the ministry, told Gulf News: “A national diabetes registry is required in the UAE as it will provide a comprehensive map to track down each and every patient and their line of treatment. Currently we are working out the budget.”
Elaborating on the Circle of Care he added: “The first phase of the circle of care initiative was launched in June to help Emiratis with diabetes fast without risk providing educative guidelines on diet, medication and healthy lifestyle. We have launched the second phase of the initiative to include all expatriates, especially Asians who have a high incidence of Type II diabetes.”
The event held in collaboration with the Emirates Diabetes Society and the multinational pharmaceutical AstraZeneca Middle East, gave the opportunity to over 700 UAE residents to get free foot, blood sugar and blood pressure checks at Dubai Festival mall.
Dr Abdul Razzak Al Madani, president of the Emirates Diabetic Society, said: “Through initiatives like this what we aim at is not just to educate existing diabetics but also diagnose those that are not even aware they have diabetes and others who may be pre-diabetic. There is a substantial population falling in these categories. This kind of awareness campaign will also help the high-risk groups such as those with a family history, the obese, smokers and women with gestational diabetes to wake up to the threat and manage their lifestyle to arrest the deterioration in health and prevent future complications such as cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy.”
Samer Al Hallaq, area vice-president of AstraZeneca Middle East, said: “We are collaborating with the ministry as providing the people with self-tools to manage their condition is the most important step in cutting out complications and reducing the burden of expenditure incurred by the government on this disease. The initiative provides a set of published frequently asked questions (FAQ) on diabetes management and a nutritionally balanced recipe book with multi-cuisines. When people eat healthily, monitor their calories and understand the importance of being physically active and complying with the doctor’s advice, they can delay the onset of any complications and save their health as well as expenses. We want to help the ministry achieve the National Health Agenda goal of reducing the incidence of diabetes from the current 19.3 per cent of the total population to 16.3 per cent by 2021. For this, all stake holders, that include health specialists, pharmaceuticals and patients, need to work together.”
The Diabetes Circle of Care kit with the nutrition guidelines and FAQs will be made available to all health-care providers to distribute to their patients. The ministry is also extending the free check-up camp until November 15 at Al Majaz Waterfront, Sharjah, until 8pm.
