RIYADH, 15 April 2007 — Minister of Health Hamad Al-Manie said yesterday that there was no bird flu outbreak in the Kingdom. The announcement comes after a small number of bird flu cases were reported in the Eastern Province last month.
“The cases of bird flu that were discovered in the Eastern Province have been eliminated,” the minister told Arab News. He said taking preventive measures against the spread of the bird flu virus was the responsibility of the Ministry of Agriculture first and foremost since it is the agency that is concerned with birds.
The minister said that the cases discovered in the Kingdom were small and immediately contained by the Ministry of Agriculture. “It has been totally eliminated. It concerned only a small number of migratory birds that were crossing the Kingdom’s borders,” he added.
Al-Manie yesterday inaugurated the Advanced Cardiac Imaging Conference at the Prince Salman Heart Center in King Fahd Medical City (KFMC).
Speaking at the event, the minister mentioned the dangers of a 400 percent rise in the incidence of heart diseases in the Kingdom. He also called for better health awareness among Saudis, adding that the No. 1 cause for heart diseases in Saudi Arabia was diabetes. Saudis also suffer from other chronic diseases that eventually lead to heart problems.
“Our first priority is to increase health awareness in the Kingdom, especially among diabetes patients,” he said.
The minister also said that several cardiologists from across the world would enlighten physicians in the Kingdom starting with the KFMC and then other heart centers. He added that the KFMC would not only be a world-class center for curing heart diseases, but also for tumors.
Al-Manie revealed that Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, had donated SR70 million to KFMC to construct its special soon-to-open tumor center.
Speaking at the event, Dr. Mostafa Youssef, director of the Prince Salman Heart Center, said the center was now using a SR14 million device for invasive techniques for the first time in the Middle East. According to Youssef, the high-tech device is rated among the top 50 in the world.
The device enables cardiologists to perform highly precise operations via magnetic waves. Surgeons need only to install a metal object through the thigh of the patient, allowing blocked arteries to be located via magnetic waves and then opened.
Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman inaugurated the Prince Salman Heart Center in 2005. Over the past two years, KFMC has successfully carried over 300 open-heart operations. Surgeons there have also done over 1,000 other cardiac operations. KFMC is currently the largest medical city in the Middle East with a 1,200-bed capacity.
