Training deal for health workers inked

RIYADH: The Saudi Society of Diabetes and Endocrinology (SSDE) and Saudi Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism (SSEM) signed on Thursday an agreement with the Joslin Diabetes Center to train health care professionals.

“Health services for diabetics in the Kingdom will be developed through the application of Joslin Diabetes Center’s model for diabetics’ care in the United States,” said Essa Aldufairy, SSDE secretary general, during a press conference at the Riyadh Marriott Hotel. Joslin Diabetes Center is affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
“Saudi health care professionals will implement the curative and rehabilitative experience carried out by the Joslin Diabetes Center, which is based on treating the patient through an integrated team,” he said.
The team will include a diabetes and endocrinology consultant, health educator, nutritionist, physical activity specialist, psychiatry consultant, and consultants in neurology and ophthalmology.
Enrique Caballero, medical director for corporate affairs at Joslin Diabetes Center, said the “help of the team in containing the disease is needed because a physician is normally busy.”
Talking to Arab News, he said the “new initiative is important considering that about 24 percent of the Saudi population is afflicted with the disease.”
An earlier report said that Saudi Arabia has the seventh-highest number of diabetes sufferers in the world.
Caballero, also an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, said that the first step in implementing the program involves the training of some 40 consultants.
“Then they can transfer what they have learned to their colleagues in various specialties. There will also be training for health educators and other relevant staff in the program by bringing in specialists from Joslin Diabetes Center,” he said.
Mohamed Arafa, AstraZeneca general manager, which sponsored the event, added that “this step is a quantum leap in health care for diabetic patients in the Kingdom in both therapeutic and economics terms as it will provide application of the paradigm applied at Joslin Diabetes Center.”
“Some 1,500 are expected to be trained with the guidance of the Joslin Diabetes Center, which is one of the best and largest medical facilities providing such treatment,” he said. He added that other steps would also be taken, depending on the assessment of health care for diabetics in the Kingdom carried out by both the SSDE and the SSEM.