JEDDAH: Treatment of diabetes patients costs the government SR14 billion a year, according to a local doctor.
Naji Jamil Al-Juhani, chairman of the scientific committee at a diabetes conference underway in Riyadh, said recently that this cost is 15 percent of the health budget, with one patient’s treatment amounting to about SR1 million annually.
The conference has been organized by the Saudi Charitable Association of Diabetes in Riyadh, with the participation of a large number of local and international specialists and researchers.
Al-Juhani said 3.7 million people in Saudi Arabia have the illness, with more than 2 million between the ages of 40 and 60 years of age, and a further 2 million at serious risk. There would be 6 million people with diabetes in 15 years, he said.
He said 14,000 die annually of the illness, the third-highest after heart disease and high blood pressure. People develop diabetes because of lifestyle choices, including lack of exercise and poor eating habits.
Al-Juhani said diabetes is a major cause of heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, sexual dysfunction and amputations, and lowers life expectancy by about eight to 10 years.
He said the conference aims to introduce the latest developments in the treatment of patients, in partnership of International Trina Health Centers.
Naji Jamil Al-Juhani, chairman of the scientific committee at a diabetes conference underway in Riyadh, said recently that this cost is 15 percent of the health budget, with one patient’s treatment amounting to about SR1 million annually.
The conference has been organized by the Saudi Charitable Association of Diabetes in Riyadh, with the participation of a large number of local and international specialists and researchers.
Al-Juhani said 3.7 million people in Saudi Arabia have the illness, with more than 2 million between the ages of 40 and 60 years of age, and a further 2 million at serious risk. There would be 6 million people with diabetes in 15 years, he said.
He said 14,000 die annually of the illness, the third-highest after heart disease and high blood pressure. People develop diabetes because of lifestyle choices, including lack of exercise and poor eating habits.
Al-Juhani said diabetes is a major cause of heart disease, kidney failure, blindness, sexual dysfunction and amputations, and lowers life expectancy by about eight to 10 years.
He said the conference aims to introduce the latest developments in the treatment of patients, in partnership of International Trina Health Centers.
