By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter

A metabolic institute with multiple projects is being set up in the country, a top official of Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC) disclosed today.
“Presently the metabolic institute is a virtual one. Different centres of excellence in diabetes as well as obesity are part of the institute,” said Dr. Abdul-Badi Abou-Samra, chairman of Medicine, HMC. He was addressing a gathering of physicians at the Specialist Certification of Obesity Professional Education (SCOPE) conference organised by the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.
“Metabolic Institute is a concept that deals with all the metabolic syndromes such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension among others. Various centres of excellence in diabetes and obesity will carry out the activities of the institute,” commented Dr. Abou- Samra.
“We want to have a physical presence of the centre later and it might be located in the nutrition hospital which is coming up in five years from now. Until it happens, it will operate from different centres of excellence.”
Dr. Abou- Samra noted that all the National Diabetes Centres will be part of the institute. “We have a National Diabetes Centre at Hamad General Hospital and another one at Al Wakra Hospital. We will soon create another centre at Al Khor Hospital. All of them will be part of the metabolic institute which will help in tackling many of the metabolic issues.”
He continued: “The National Obesity Centre which is coming up at the Hamad Bin Khalifa Medical City is another component of the institute. The obesity centre is expected to be completed in one year time from now.”
According to Dr. Abou-Samra, the metabolic institute will help in developing a multidisciplinary approach. “People who need to go for treatment for obesity, will be consulted in these centres and according to the nature of each case, they will be assigned treatment such as life style modification, exercises and bariatric surgery among others. The centres of excellence in diabetes and obesity will be able to guide the patients with the right type of treatment.”
The SCOPE conference on the first day had several interactive workshops on prescribing physical activity for obese patients, psychological approaches to managing obesity and how to choose diets for obesity management. The two day conference will come to an end tomorrow.