DUBAI: It is time to have more emphasis on family medicine and primary health care and improve it in the GCC countries in specific and the Arab world in general, said Professor Dr. Tawfik Khoja, director general of the Executive Board of Health Ministers’ Council for GCC States, KSA.

He was speaking at the International Family Medicine Conference (IFM) that concluded on Tuesday.

“This conference is a great initiative that brings leaders of family medicine from around the world in one place to improve the family medicine health services in the region. We shall work on improving the issue of research, as without scientific approach we can’t build health care system, and it is time for the GCC to have evidence based approach to build together a stronger health care system,” Khoja added.

More than 2000 visitors and participants attended the three-day event.

This year, the program was based on three major important themes for primary health care and it focused on diabetes, CVD, obesity, respiratory and allergy.

According to the WHO statistics, more than 371 million people are living with diabetes today, 40 million children under the age of five were overweight in 2011, 235 million people currently suffer from asthma, and 17.3 million people die of cardiovascular diseases every year.

“The IFM Conference and Exhibition provides scientific medical developments and clinical learning opportunities for health care professionals, physicians, and allied professionals, including nurses, pharmacists, medical researchers and technicians from all parts of the Middle East and the world,” said Dr. Abdul Salam Al-Madani, executive director of the conference.

On the sidelines of the conference, a Global Family Medicine Scientific Alliance Meeting was also organized. During the session, over 20 doctors and specialists representing different health care institutions discussed prevention programs and the outcome of their meetings at IFM this year.

“We have an identity for IFM and for this alliance which made us different from other scientific meetings. We are purely scientific and aim for exchanging knowledge and sharing experiences. In coming years we are hoping to cover new themes that will emphasize on improving the relationship between the family doctors and the patients that in turn will lead to a better service. Next year themes might fall under topics such as motherhood and childhood, occupational health, and rehabilitation,” said Dr. Ibtesam Al Bastaki, scientific chairperson of IFM.