JEDDAH, 14 May 2006 — Twenty new diabetic centers will be established in different parts of the Kingdom shortly as part of the government’s efforts to provide advanced health care to the country’s growing number of diabetic patients.
“We are now in the process of inviting tenders to implement these health projects,” said Khaled Al-Mirghalani, general supervisor of media and health awareness and spokesman of the Health Ministry.
“Diabetics is a chronic disease that demands continuous treatment and follow-up,” he said, adding that the new centers were planned within the framework of a program to develop diabetic treatment centers across the country.
Experts say about 25 to 30 percent of the Kingdom’s population is suffering from diabetes, costing the government SR3 billion per month in treatment. As high as 52 percent of the population is obese, making them vulnerable to diabetes.
Some of the new diabetic centers will be established at existing hospitals such as King Fahd Hospital in Jeddah, Riyadh Medical Center, Al-Noor Specialist Hospital in Makkah, King Abdul Aziz Specialist Hospital in Taif and Qunfuda General Hospital.
“The Eastern Province will get three diabetic centers,” the spokesman said, adding that they would be established at Dammam Central Hospital, King Fahd Hospital in Hufouf and King Khaled Hospital in Hafr Al-Baten.
He said the remaining 12 diabetic centers would be located in Madinah, Hail, Qassim, Arar, Asir, Tabuk, Al-Jouf, Gurayat, Bisha, Baha, Jizan and Najran. “Through these centers we’ll intensify public awareness campaigns in order to cut down the number of diabetic cases in the Kingdom,” he added.
Diabetes is present in epidemic proportions throughout the Kingdom with exceedingly high rates concentrated in urban areas. Recently published surveys indicate that nearly one Saudi in five beyond the age of 30 has diabetes mellitus. It is a disease in which the body does not produce enough insulin or properly use the insulin necessary for the body to absorb glucose (sugar). The glucose then accumulates in the bloodstream until levels get dangerously high.
“By its very nature, diabetes is a multisystem disease with wide-ranging complications that span nearly all regions of the body,” says Khetam Al-Marshad, health and diabetes educator at the King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital.
The goal of diabetes education is to help the patient reach self-management of the malady. “Complications from diabetes can lead to blindness, kidney failure, heart disease, nerve damage, limb amputations and even death,” she explained.
