Rheumatoid arthritis patients are ending up in wheelchairs

Dozens of people are suffering from rheumatoid arthritis because treatment in the UAE is inadequate, a specialist has said.

A lack of rheumatologists means that many patients are failing to get the treatment required and are ending up in wheelchairs, Professor Paul Tak said.

Tak, medical director of the Dubai Bone and Joint Centre and a specialist at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, said there are fewer than 10 rheumatologists in the UAE for an estimated population of 3.5 million.

In Amsterdam there are 25 for just one million people, meaning that the Netherlands has more than 10 times as many specialists per person than the UAE.

"Many rheumatoid arthritis patients in the UAE don't see a rheumatologist. It is critical that they do see a specialist with experience of treating these patients.

"It's important to raise awareness among the population that during the painful swelling people with the condition get, they should see a rheumatologist who can initiate the correct treatment.

"That is an unmet need in this part of the world. You have to treat the condition as early as possible," he said.

Tak said that in the past, most rheumatoid arthritis patients in the West would end up in wheelchairs.

However, he said, improved treatments made available in the past 10 to 15 years meant that this was no longer inevitable and the prognosis for sufferers has improved.

Many people in the UAE were not getting access to these new treatments because of the lack of specialists, Tak said, condemning them to pain and disability.

One in 100 people in the Middle East has rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune disease meaning the body is attacked by its own immune system that causes chronic inflammation of the joints.

The painful condition can also cause inflammation of the tissues around the joints as well as other organs in the body.

It is a progressive illness and although patients may go through long periods without symptoms, it tends to get worse with time and can destroy joints, leaving patients unable to carry out everyday tasks.

Doctors from across the Middle East gathered in Abu Dhabi recently to discuss new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis.

Specialists from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait and the UAE were among those who attended the meeting, which was supported by UAE Rheumatology Club.

Among those at the meeting was Gabriele Brieden, a German dentist who was once wheelchair- bound but can now walk thanks to medication.