Approximately 60 doctors from clinics across Qatar and 41 visiting from Pakistan heard the latest advice on how to diagnose and manage diabetes at the International Diabetes Excellence Academy conference (IDEA), hosted by Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar (WCM-Q).
The conference featured two days of presentations and interactive Q&A sessions in which a team of expert medical educators explained the most up-to-date guidelines for effectively treating both type-1 and type-2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance - also known as
pre-diabetes.
The attendees were given practical guidance to follow in their own clinics on issues such as how to interpret blood glucose test results, how to distinguish diabetes from pre-diabetes, and how and when to prescribe medication to optimally treat debilitating complications such as damage to the kidneys, nerves and eyes.
Dr Rayaz Malik, professor of medicine at WCM-Q and a researcher in diabetic neuropathy, co-directed the IDEA conference with Dr Hamed Farooqi, director and consultant endocrinologist at the Dubai Diabetes Centre, and Dr Abbas Raza, consultant diabetologist/endocrinologist at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital and Research Centre and the National Hospital in
Lahore, Pakistan.
Dr Malik pointed out that diabetes is an extremely complex disease and treatment guidelines change all the time as new discoveries are made. “The challenge for doctors around the world is that it takes a long time to stay up-to-date with the latest treatment protocols and they are very time poor as they often see a large number of patients every day.”
Dr Raza observed that all participants gained very useful practical advice from experts in the field of diabetes and endocrinology for all stages of diabetes treatment, from early screening and intervention through to effective long-term management of the disease in order to reduce the risk of complications.